Portrait photographers know how difficult it can be to coax an authentic look or pose from their subjects. If your subjects are animals, the challenge is magnified exponentially.

Belgian photographer Vincent Lagrange is a master at creating striking, soulful animal portraits. In this conversation with the Cooperative of Photography, Lagrange unpacks his approach.

Key takeaways:

• Build a good relationship with the animal. Before Lagrange shoots them, he’s playing with them and getting to know them, the better to put them at ease.
• Use soft lights and don’t use flash, as that tends to excite the animals or make them nervous.
• Communicate with sounds, not words, but otherwise try to maintain a quiet set.
• Don’t use food to control the animals, at least at the outset. Lagrange says that if you start out with food, they’ll fill up and then lose interest in following commands.
• Finally, you’ll need to have patience. Animals are going to do what they’re going to do, and sometimes you just need to accept that you’re not going to get the shot. Lagrange relays how one of his favorite dog portraits took five attempts (as in five separate studio visits) before they could get the dog to cooperate.

If you’re looking for more great tips for shooting animal portraits, don’t miss our profile of Zoo Studio founder Ken Drake, who has made taking dramatic animal images his bread-and-butter.