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Here are some tips on taking photos of hamsters. If anyone else has hamster photography tips - feel free to add them 
Many times we're lucky to just get a snapshot (and many of mine are blurred!) of a spontaneous moment, but sometimes hamsters can actually sit still and pose! Other times they will only sit still if there's food available.
If you're doing a photo with a theme then having a hamster in the right place helps! The main thing is lighting. If the lighting is enough then the camera will have a faster shutter speed and the picture is less likely to be blurred. It doesn't have to be anything special, just good room lighting - for example when a hamster is out of the cage in the evening. Bright lights are not nice for hamsters (eg flash) and natural light tends to look better. However hamsters are asleep during the day and in winter it gets dark early, so natural room light is rarely possible. Ordinary room lights are fine - they may give a slight orangey tinge to the photo but sometimes that can be atmospheric - or you can adjust the lighting in camera or when processing/resizing the photo. This is perfectly acceptable in photo competitions as it's not adding items to the photograph itself, just adjusting lighting and contrast.
Sometimes just an overhead room light on is enough. Some professional pet photographers actually have a white box with the hamster and props in and professional lighting nearby to light it. Most of us don't have these things. But you can achieve some very nice soft lighting by, for example, hanging a white teatowel or vest or similar, over an angle poise lamp. If you have two angle poise lamps, one either side with a vest etc over, pointing towards each other and upwards slightly, this prevents shadows and the light source is not pointing at the hamster but is just softly lighting the whole area.
I've done this before with bedside lamps and the hamster on the bed . The bedside lamps weren't actually anglepoise lamps but they are similar and bend to point in different directions. And it was easy to hang a couple of thin fabric items over them. (Don't leave them there too long and keep an eye on them as this could be a fire hazard - possibly if left there for a long time).
Otherwise, just good room lighting and not too dim.
I'm no expert on phone photography - some phones have all kinds of photographic adjustments. If you have an actual camera then some settings also help to get the best results. The larger the aperture you set (large aperture is the smaller numbers), the more light gets into the camera so the faster the shutter speed will be. A large aperture also gives the effect of leaving the background out of focus - so the main subject is in focus, and any close background is in focus mainly, but any further away background that could be distracting is out of focus. You can usually see on a camera, what the shutter speed will be once you've set the aperture. For normal room lighting this won't be very fast (the faster it is the more it freezes action). You don't want anything slower than 1/30th of a second if hand holding the camera.
One way to make the shutter speed faster is adjust the ISO settings. Many cameras have automatic iso adjustment so no need to do anything - they will choose a higher ISO to allow for the fastest shutter speed. An average daytime light ISO is about 200. For indoor lighting you might need about 1600.
It's difficult to explain what ISO is on a digital camera, but it goes back to the days of film, when films came in smaller or larger ISO's (or ASA as it used to be called also). A standard film would be 100 or 200. A "fast" film would be 1600 or 3200. A "slow" film would be 50. The difference being that with the slow film you got much increased picture quality but less light (good for static objects). With a "fast" film the picture would be slightly "grainier" but you could take sharp pictures in low light conditions.
With digital cameras and phones it is similar. A higher ISO will have less picture quality than a lower on. But the difference is hardly noticeable with a digital photograph unless it is a very very high ISO like 6400.
So to get to the point:
1) Set up your theme background. Maybe a plain blanket on the bed or sofa as a background and any mini props on it with the lighting as good as possible for this little set up.
2) Set your camera or phone so you have a large aperture (say F2.8 or F4) an ISO of about 1600 and a shutter speed as fast as it will allow for these settings. Some phones will just auto adjust (being clever gadgets!) but there are options to manually set some things as well.
3) And choose the "lens length". With an actual camera this is the difference between a wide angle, a standard, or a short telephoto lens. If it's a zoom lens you can zoom in and out between them.
4) A longer lens works well for photos of hamsters for a few reasons. Firstly it is more of a "portrait" lens - it focuses on the main subject and also helps blur out distracting backgrounds. Secondly it means you can stand further away from the hamster but still have them large in the view screen or viewfinder. So they don't feel disturbed at a camera nearby or can not even notice you're taking a photo (turn the sound off too so there are no clicks!).
Again with phones you can set this in settings I think. Or just use whatever length you're comfortable with.
5) A hamster! I don't think it's fair to plonk a hamster in the middle of all this and expect them to be happy and relaxed, so it can be good to wait until they've been out of the cage for a while and had a bit of a play generally and are a bit more relaxed. Just a nice normal out of cage time and then introduce them to the area you've set up. It can help to have a bit of tempting food there - some sunflower seeds around or a bit of cucumber. The hamster may just eat these and then wander off and you miss the photo. So put a bit more food out. Or leave it a bit and try again later. Surprisingly some hamsters will actually look at you and pose a bit for a few seconds. Especially when they get used to this being a thing that you do sometimes. One problem can be that the hamster's face is pointing down while they're nomming on the bit of veg or special treat. Calling their name sometimes means they look up momentarily. But mainly it's about them knowing you and being relaxed and comfortable before you start. Putting a cosy nest bed or tube can be part of the arrangement as well so the hamster might go and sit in it for a few minutes. And be still that way.
6) Often you don't get the picture you want - you have to take a lot - and maybe one of them is ok. Or it may not be the one you wanted but you still get a really lovely picture of the hamster (maybe not with the props but climbing the blanket and looking cheeky. It's something that takes a bit of time and patience and every now and then playing with the hamster and interacting so it feels more normal. If you try and plonk a hamster on a set up they will probably just run off again (kicking everything over on the way!).
7) I've seen a demonstration online by a professional photographer who used to hold the bit of food above the hamster, out of sight of the camera lens, so the hamster climbed on whatever they wanted them to climb on and looked up to try and get the treat. The treat would be moved around a bit while the photographer took photos at the same time until they got the right post or hamster angle. Then the hamster got the food! This was probably using professional gear like a tripod and a cable release so they didn't have to actually stand behind the camera or press the button. But it's a good tip - if you can hold a treat up to get them to get into a position or place you want. Not easy if you're holding a camera or phone as well.
8) Finally - it can be very rewarding - you get some really nice out of cage time with the hamster, who has had some new interesting things to explore and nibble at and if you're lucky you may have one or two nice photos as well! You will also no doubt have a lot of out takes!
I am by no means a professional hamster photographer. I've had the odd nice one with my camera and thought about lighting on occasion but mainly, like most of us, I just grab spontaneous snapshots because the moment is right. Whenever I've done a set up with props, it hasn't gone to plan - but at some point the hamster usually just sits or lies down and you get a nice photo - or just catch them at the right moment.
The out takes can be fun as well. Here are some examples of out takes of "photoshoots" I've tried that haven't gone to plan! But kind of came right in the end. I ended up with two really nice photos of our hamster Charlie (despite them not being a scene with the props!) and one with the props that was half decent.
These were just taken with a compact camera.
This was Charlie (RIP)
(Post below)
Many times we're lucky to just get a snapshot (and many of mine are blurred!) of a spontaneous moment, but sometimes hamsters can actually sit still and pose! Other times they will only sit still if there's food available
.If you're doing a photo with a theme then having a hamster in the right place helps! The main thing is lighting. If the lighting is enough then the camera will have a faster shutter speed and the picture is less likely to be blurred. It doesn't have to be anything special, just good room lighting - for example when a hamster is out of the cage in the evening. Bright lights are not nice for hamsters (eg flash) and natural light tends to look better. However hamsters are asleep during the day and in winter it gets dark early, so natural room light is rarely possible. Ordinary room lights are fine - they may give a slight orangey tinge to the photo but sometimes that can be atmospheric - or you can adjust the lighting in camera or when processing/resizing the photo. This is perfectly acceptable in photo competitions as it's not adding items to the photograph itself, just adjusting lighting and contrast.
Sometimes just an overhead room light on is enough. Some professional pet photographers actually have a white box with the hamster and props in and professional lighting nearby to light it. Most of us don't have these things. But you can achieve some very nice soft lighting by, for example, hanging a white teatowel or vest or similar, over an angle poise lamp. If you have two angle poise lamps, one either side with a vest etc over, pointing towards each other and upwards slightly, this prevents shadows and the light source is not pointing at the hamster but is just softly lighting the whole area.
I've done this before with bedside lamps and the hamster on the bed
. The bedside lamps weren't actually anglepoise lamps but they are similar and bend to point in different directions. And it was easy to hang a couple of thin fabric items over them. (Don't leave them there too long and keep an eye on them as this could be a fire hazard - possibly if left there for a long time).Otherwise, just good room lighting and not too dim.
I'm no expert on phone photography - some phones have all kinds of photographic adjustments. If you have an actual camera then some settings also help to get the best results. The larger the aperture you set (large aperture is the smaller numbers), the more light gets into the camera so the faster the shutter speed will be. A large aperture also gives the effect of leaving the background out of focus - so the main subject is in focus, and any close background is in focus mainly, but any further away background that could be distracting is out of focus. You can usually see on a camera, what the shutter speed will be once you've set the aperture. For normal room lighting this won't be very fast (the faster it is the more it freezes action). You don't want anything slower than 1/30th of a second if hand holding the camera.
One way to make the shutter speed faster is adjust the ISO settings. Many cameras have automatic iso adjustment so no need to do anything - they will choose a higher ISO to allow for the fastest shutter speed. An average daytime light ISO is about 200. For indoor lighting you might need about 1600.
It's difficult to explain what ISO is on a digital camera, but it goes back to the days of film, when films came in smaller or larger ISO's (or ASA as it used to be called also). A standard film would be 100 or 200. A "fast" film would be 1600 or 3200. A "slow" film would be 50. The difference being that with the slow film you got much increased picture quality but less light (good for static objects). With a "fast" film the picture would be slightly "grainier" but you could take sharp pictures in low light conditions.
With digital cameras and phones it is similar. A higher ISO will have less picture quality than a lower on. But the difference is hardly noticeable with a digital photograph unless it is a very very high ISO like 6400.
So to get to the point:
1) Set up your theme background. Maybe a plain blanket on the bed or sofa as a background and any mini props on it with the lighting as good as possible for this little set up.
2) Set your camera or phone so you have a large aperture (say F2.8 or F4) an ISO of about 1600 and a shutter speed as fast as it will allow for these settings. Some phones will just auto adjust (being clever gadgets!) but there are options to manually set some things as well.
3) And choose the "lens length". With an actual camera this is the difference between a wide angle, a standard, or a short telephoto lens. If it's a zoom lens you can zoom in and out between them.
4) A longer lens works well for photos of hamsters for a few reasons. Firstly it is more of a "portrait" lens - it focuses on the main subject and also helps blur out distracting backgrounds. Secondly it means you can stand further away from the hamster but still have them large in the view screen or viewfinder. So they don't feel disturbed at a camera nearby or can not even notice you're taking a photo (turn the sound off too so there are no clicks!).
Again with phones you can set this in settings I think. Or just use whatever length you're comfortable with.
5) A hamster! I don't think it's fair to plonk a hamster in the middle of all this and expect them to be happy and relaxed, so it can be good to wait until they've been out of the cage for a while and had a bit of a play generally and are a bit more relaxed. Just a nice normal out of cage time and then introduce them to the area you've set up. It can help to have a bit of tempting food there - some sunflower seeds around or a bit of cucumber. The hamster may just eat these and then wander off and you miss the photo. So put a bit more food out. Or leave it a bit and try again later. Surprisingly some hamsters will actually look at you and pose a bit for a few seconds. Especially when they get used to this being a thing that you do sometimes. One problem can be that the hamster's face is pointing down while they're nomming on the bit of veg or special treat. Calling their name sometimes means they look up momentarily. But mainly it's about them knowing you and being relaxed and comfortable before you start. Putting a cosy nest bed or tube can be part of the arrangement as well so the hamster might go and sit in it for a few minutes. And be still that way.
6) Often you don't get the picture you want - you have to take a lot - and maybe one of them is ok. Or it may not be the one you wanted but you still get a really lovely picture of the hamster (maybe not with the props but climbing the blanket and looking cheeky. It's something that takes a bit of time and patience and every now and then playing with the hamster and interacting so it feels more normal. If you try and plonk a hamster on a set up they will probably just run off again (kicking everything over on the way!).
7) I've seen a demonstration online by a professional photographer who used to hold the bit of food above the hamster, out of sight of the camera lens, so the hamster climbed on whatever they wanted them to climb on and looked up to try and get the treat. The treat would be moved around a bit while the photographer took photos at the same time until they got the right post or hamster angle. Then the hamster got the food! This was probably using professional gear like a tripod and a cable release so they didn't have to actually stand behind the camera or press the button. But it's a good tip - if you can hold a treat up to get them to get into a position or place you want. Not easy if you're holding a camera or phone as well.
8) Finally - it can be very rewarding - you get some really nice out of cage time with the hamster, who has had some new interesting things to explore and nibble at and if you're lucky you may have one or two nice photos as well! You will also no doubt have a lot of out takes!
I am by no means a professional hamster photographer. I've had the odd nice one with my camera and thought about lighting on occasion but mainly, like most of us, I just grab spontaneous snapshots because the moment is right. Whenever I've done a set up with props, it hasn't gone to plan - but at some point the hamster usually just sits or lies down and you get a nice photo - or just catch them at the right moment.
The out takes can be fun as well. Here are some examples of out takes of "photoshoots" I've tried that haven't gone to plan! But kind of came right in the end. I ended up with two really nice photos of our hamster Charlie (despite them not being a scene with the props!) and one with the props that was half decent.
These were just taken with a compact camera.
This was Charlie (RIP)
(Post below)
Last edited:
