PetStyle

Millions of pet pictures are taken every year. The results are proudly shown off not only in frames next to the rest of the family pictures but also on websites and blogs dedicated to the best pictures of animal companions, and in books like The Ultimate Dog Lover, The Ultimate Cat Lover, and The Ultimate Horse Lover.

How do you get that perfect picture you'll be proud to keep and to share? We asked Troy Snow, a top professional photographer with years of experience taking pictures for the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, for advice on how to get the best possible pictures of your animal companions. Below is his response.

You can view some of Troy Snow's animal photography at his Flickr site, http://www.flickr.com/photos/troysnow/. More information about The Ultimate Dog Lover -- and other books featuring the photography of Troy Snow -- follows the article. Good luck with those snapshots!

"How to Photograph Your Pets"
by Troy Snow

Digital photography has changed everything for the casual photographer. Instead of wasting roll after roll of film -- or not bothering to take pictures at all because of the trouble and expense of getting them developed -- it's now possible to take hundreds of pictures of your pet, happy in the knowledge that if there are just one or two good ones out of every few dozen taken, nothing has been wasted except possibly your time.