The big secret is small sounds.

You're going to need a ton of patience to get the kind of pet pictures Bill Landau produces, but sound is going to be an incredibly important ingredient in the process.

Simply, find the sound that appeals to the pet you're photographing. And when you're searching for that sound, think soft, think subtle.

"One mistake a lot of pet shooters make is they get all these squeaky toys and think they've got to make a lot of noise to get the animal's attention," Bill says. "In reality, what works best are the small sounds, and those will vary from animal to animal. You'll soon find what works."

Bill has to try lots of different sounds because his subjects keep changing. A professional photographer for close to 25 years, Bill is now into a second career—running a library—but for over eight years he and his wife, Peggy, have been dedicated to taking the "Pet of the Week" photo that appears in the Arizona Daily Sun. Their subjects are chosen from the homeless dogs and cats at the Coconino Humane Association in Flagstaff, and they have a perfect record: every animal Bill's photographed has been adopted.

"I'll try everything to find the right sound: I'll moo and bark and cluck, but what usually works best is a little piece of scrap paper," he says. "I'll tear off a quarter of a sheet and roll it up in my hand, and that little noise, just rolling a little ball of paper, is often enough to get the animals to not only look, but cock their heads a little bit. It works especially well with cats, and that's about the loudest noise you want to make with a cat."

Or you can try rubbing two fingers together. Bill's camera is almost always on a tripod, so he can operate it with one hand. "I rub my thumb and forefinger—I can't hear that sound unless I put my fingers right up to my ear, but cats can hear it, and if my hands are just the right dryness, it makes a little drag on the texture of the skin, and that'll get them to look."

Another sound technique involves bringing his left hand to the top of the lens hood that he always uses on his NIKKOR lenses. "The hood has a bit of texture to it, and I just scratch my fingernail on top of the hood. That gets them to look right at that spot."

Your signal of success will be the cat's ears. "Loud or harsh sounds make cats twitch their ears backwards, and that doesn't look as good as a cat with its ears up and forward. So if the ears are back, you're not getting the right sounds for photography."

And your first test of your results, Bill suggests, is to check the eyes. "If I don't have the animal's eyes sharp, it's not a good picture."

So now that you know how to get them to pay attention, the big question is, how do you get them to sit still?

The short answer: get help. Notice that earlier we mentioned Bill's wife, Peggy. She's the invaluable assistant—the pet wrangler.

Take the image of the four kittens on the chair. To appreciate what it took to get that photo, you'd have to see the behind-the-scenes movie that, unfortunately, wasn't made. Here's how Bill describes it: "I have to stay behind the camera, but Peggy is inches off camera and picking 'em up and putting them back in place and keeping their attention. It's just chaos. I've got to keep shooting and making little noises until I get them. And it never fails—I'll get three of them looking the right way and the other one looking the other way. It takes miles of patience—and sometimes it's a grabshot; that's all it is."

To balance out the chaos, some practical advice: let them do what they want to do, and even encourage them to do it with some well-chosen props. What cat can resist a cardboard box, or a wicker basket, or a flower pot? "I often have an idea in my head about the way I want the shot to look," Bill says, "but that might not match what's in the animal's head. When I'm having the most trouble trying to get them to do what I want them to do, I just back off and see what they're going to do. And they end up making the shot for me because their idea is a better one than what I had." Which is how the photo of the cat peeking out of the flower pot happened.

"I first had the pot upside down so the cat could sit on top of it; that's how I pictured it in my head. So I'd put him up and he'd jump down, again and again. I couldn't get one shot. Then we put the pot on its side, and the cat was starting to go inside. Then we tipped it up and put him in. My idea was to get his head up so we could see his whole face, but he had a better idea—and it made a cuter shot."

The photo of the dog on the chair happened because...well, because dogs know what they like and they expect you to know it too. "Peggy was standing on the left side, and he was a great dog who wanted attention, and about half a second before I took the picture she had been rubbing his ears. I said, 'Pull your hand away!' and she did, and I got the shot."

Sometimes you have to use a little inducement. The cat and the turkey decoration, for example. A little oil from the top of the canned cat food on the turkey's nose did the trick. "I got a few pictures of the cat licking at it," Bill says, "but it's a better picture when they're nose to nose."

A glance at Bill's photos will tell you that props and backgrounds play a big part, too. The props mostly come from his home, but if he runs out of items or ideas, a trip to a local crafts store will fire up his imagination. "And fans of my work in town will let me borrow things for the "Pet of the Week" picture."

His backgrounds come from the remnant table at a fabric store. Bill has a keen eye for what will work well with his props and the animals, and he controls the depth of field in his photos so the background complements rather than distracts.

For outdoor shots he'll often use a Nikon Speedlight for a little fill flash, while indoors he most often shoots with a Norman Superlite 800 strobe setup. For one photo, though, too much light was the issue. "For the dog in the mailbox, Peggy was holding a lightweight translucent sunshield to block the harsh sunlight, and she had her other hand ready to catch the dog if he decided to jump out. But he was amiable and very cooperative."

Now, a cat and a mailbox....forget it, we're not going there.

There are many more delightful images of cats and dogs at Bill's website. Set aside lots of time.

Gear Guide
Bill Landau shoots with a D1X and two NIKKORS, an AF-S Zoom-NIKKOR 28-70mm f/2.8D IF-ED and an AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED, and he sometimes uses an SB-28DX Speedlight for fill flash.

What's your best bet for pet photography? We asked Lindsay Silverman, Nikon senior product lifecycle manager (in short, our go-to guy for gear guidance) for his thoughts on getting the job done.

"For the entry level, first-time D-SLR owner, I'd suggest a D5000. Scene modes like Portrait and Close-up are great for this type of photography, Live View will permit previewing without having to look in the viewfinder and D-Movie mode is great for multi-media stories that'll bring the pets to life. For lenses, an AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR and an AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6G ED are perfect choices. Add an SB-600 Speedlight for easy, effective bounce lighting to soften flash effects.

"For the photo enthusiast, a D90 offers a wide shutter speed range, Live View and D-Movie mode, a built-in flash with Wireless Commander Mode and a burst rate up to 4.5 fps to catch quickly moving pets. Think about an AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR for cramped spaces and environmental portraits and an AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED for outdoor, pets-from-a-distance photos. An SB-600 Speedlight will again provide easy-does-it bounce lighting for soft flash effects and wireless flash control to shape the lighting environment.

"Advanced shooters might consider a D300S or D700 for their wide shutter speed range, fast burst rates (seven frames per second) to capture fleeting movements and 51-point AF systems for superior AF accuracy—plus Live View and D-Movie. Match either with an AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED for superb image quality with a fast aperture for available light shooting (or limited depth of field when using Speedlights) and an AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II for outdoor distance shots. One or two SB-900 Speedlights will provide ample flash power and allow for advanced wireless flash control to add depth to the scene."