Photography Ideas for Shelter Animals

It is possible to encourage animal adoption through the powerful medium of photography. Animal shelter staff can use photography in a variety of ways to spread the message of pet adoption for animals in animal shelters. Photography campaigns do not need to be dour black and white images of sad dogs and cats, but can show off the joy of each individual animal's personality.

  1. Artistic Photo Spread

    • Invite local professional photojournalists, photographers, art photography students, and other experts in the field to shoot a photo spread of the animals at your shelter as a way of spreading the message of pet adoption through the artistic realism of photography. Encourage photographers to include information about the animal at the bottom of their photograph whether it is displayed in a newspaper, magazine, art gallery, or personal website. Include the adoption information with the shelter's name and contact details in the caption of each photograph.

    Animals in Costumes

    • Taking photographs of animals dressed up in costumes is a festive way of conveying their lovable personalities to the public. Relate the costumes to a specific holiday, and send the photos in newsletters or upload them to the shelter's website. For example, around Halloween time, dress up the animals as witches or pumpkins and use the photos to encourage pet adoption. Include an appropriate tag line at the bottom of each photo such as, "Halloween is spooky, but I'm not! Please adopt me!"

    Animal Facebook

    • Creating mock social networking pages for each shelter animal is a concept that works in both digital and print formats. Replicate the design in the format of a recognizable website, such as Facebook, with a profile photo and an info section. Combine the different pages into a booklet, and send it out to the community to encourage people to adopt the animals. For a more ambitious project, create a mock animal social networking website for your shelter that allows people to browse in search of a pet to adopt.

    Photography Tree Ornaments

    • To encourage pet adoption at Christmas time, create Christmas tree ornaments with a photograph of a shelter animal glued onto it. Place the animal's name on the back of the ornament, and add information about his personality and how to go about adopting him. Place the shelter animal ornaments on a Christmas tree that is stationed in a venue frequented by the local community, such as a church, grocery store, or library.