Posing technique's

[Kelli♥Belli]

Ok so as you all probably know there has been a big deal about posing...not just on here. So I figured rather than just b*tching about show poses I'd post this so everyone can get tips from others on posing

What techniques do you use when working with your show Dogz/Catz?

Post your own techniques and read others! No matter how long youve been doing this, you can still learn things and get new tips. So PLEAASE contribute.

Oh yea! If you show certain breeds than tell us how you work with that specific breed!!

[Kelli♥Belli]

Well first off I made a playscene that has no background, no distractions, absolutely nothing...Just a plain blank grey screen. This definately helps cuz in every original playscene there is some kind of distraction.

Another thing that could be done is setting the petz energy level (if you have petz a) to around 80 so they aren't extremely hyper when your trying to pose them.

I don't use treats, I find that it is easier to just pet your Dog or Cat a lot when they've posed well. If you have a box of treats sitting out, the dog will be distracted and will be trying to get treats rather than focusing on posing.

After I have saved a good amount of show poses, I open up paint and put all the pictures next to eachother so I can tell which one out of the bunch is the best. This weeds out bad poses.

Besides all that...patience always helps. Don't just take one picture and quit and think your good to go. You need to take many pictures and only save the ones that you think are good. And even after that you need to compare the ones you saved and weed out the bad poses. Than even after that, have people critique the pose you chose.

Hope this helps and I hope you others post your techniques too!!

[Selena]

Actually if you turn off weather (In P5), you can get rid of all distractions in the backyard.

If the butterfly appears, just use the cleanup tool at the top of the screen.

[Kelli♥Belli]

^Ooh didn't know that. Good tip. Especially because i do not remember at all how i created that playscene before so I can't tell others how to do it =P

[Selena]

^^ Backyard is my favorite scene for posing and pretty much everything else, it's got a level field and very few distractions.

The only things you have to watch out for is pets who choose to jump up on the fence or tree.

[Kelli♥Belli]

Another technique i figured out for when your just starting to pose a pet an you want to see how good your doing with alignment, get the paint can out and paint the dogz back heel bright red. This way when you pose your pet, if you see a lot of red behind or in front of the front foot, you know that your dog is either too far right or left. Keep trying until you've find the perfect point to drop your pet and see less red.

Another technique for posing Catz is to get them aligned and spray them with the perfume bottle to get them to into pose. Now I'm not so sure how great this works b/c I don't show Catz but try it out and see if it works for you.

Something I want to know is if there is a technique in getting your dog to do a dane pose rather than a dali pose? I'm trying to pose a Java Gshepherd and they look better in a dane pose but my dog won't do a dane pose.

[Selena]

Spray bottle is only accepted for cats with an oshie personality because it gives them sad eyes. Other breeds aren't welcomed with that.

As for dane pose, I've found it best just to keep waiting for that dane pose when they're doing a good dali, snap a picture or two and they usually snap into dane for me.

[The Keeper]

Kelli - For getting a dane pose right when you see the dog going into a dali pose just stop snapping the camera and wait for the dog to turn its head right then snap a picture but be patient because a lot of dogs tend to turn their heads to far so it takes a couple tries. Anyways hope this helps

[Artemis]

You can also train your dog to be more obedient to you. I'll see if I can find a link to a good health training technique that can keep your dog happy & obedient. But I recommend little distractions. I find it near impossible to pose in P5 because the dogz get distracted by the camera (which is why I prefer P4 for showing).

But Selena is right about the perfume bottle. Only accepted for Oshies as they refuse to pose. Other breedz will pose with patience, so the spray bottle is the lazy.. and bad way of posing catz. But you're off to a good start if you're trying a bunch of techniques!

[Kelli♥Belli]

I only have petz 5. I had petz 3 and 4 but not since I got my new computer I only have 5 on it. Would any one like to explain oshie? I don't know a lot about catz...more of a dog person and maybe another person has the same question.

Oh yea and if anyone shows certain breeds and wants to explain those certain breeds that'd be great. Expecially Java Gshepherds lol ;P . Maybe original breed posing advice too? Like original dali or dali-type, and danes since those are still really popular.

[Selena]

oshie is short for orange shorthair, the scaredy cats. They very rarely pose without the spray bottle and only the sad eyes are acceptable on them because of their demeanor.

[Navyflash]

I adopted a dog called Hallows. She is very hyper. I end up having to lower her energy level to 27, but even then she still jumps round crazily. I have never photographed a dog like her and the only pic that is ok from her is this one:

Any techniques on how to calm down a bonkers dog?

[Noelle]

I'd try and leave her out for awhile. If you try and get her pose to continously, like realigning her repeatedly, petting her when she even attempts a show pose..that should help. I've trained some of my hyper ones that way.

It's not impossible.

[Jewellz]

Well, for my Java German Shepherds, I usually pick them up, let them spin around a time or two until I get used to the speed they're going, and since their ears stick up, I wait until the ears line up, then I drop them...Usually they end up in perfect alignment, but if it is missed by a pixel or two you can usually fix that by picking up the dog and dropping it again really fast. And (hopefully) it went a few pixels the way you wanted it to. If not, just spin it around again...

Then if you have P5, just snap pictures and keep re-aligning them, because it is inevitable they will mess up your perfect alignment countless times. As soon as they go into a Dali pose, stop...Wait...When your dog's head looks aligned straight forward and it's breathing is at the highest point (the dog gets taller, the legs long and as straight as they can be) snap 2-3 very quick pictures, that way you can get a couple pose pictures to choose from...Usually to get a good Dane pose it takes a few poses where the dog doesn't get their head right before they will, but be ready every time they pose...(I use the spacebar to take pics, I think it's faster...)

If you have P4, it is much easier to get a Dane pose, since usually the poses last longer and you can snap as many pictures as you can while they're posing, so you can probably catch a good Dane one, whereas with P5 you have to be patient and wait for it