Getting into Pet Photography?

I'd love to get into some pet photography. Maybe some very cheap or free shots to start off with. I was thinking about simply taking photos of animals for my local shelter for free (biggest one in my state however), just to get some practice. Eventually after time hopefully getting a name for myself and being able to charge even a small sum of money.

I own a Nikon D90 and now about ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed etc. Is there any other settings or camera specific things I should read up on or learn? Do you think this is an okay camera for the work I want to do or should I get a better camera? Is there any pet specific things I should read up on also?

I'm not afraid of animals (unless they are really big spiders, haha) and know the basics of training for mostly all animals. I can also do some work with Photoshop (Medium experience).

- Some examples. I know these photos are less than average but I'm still learning and these were all I had on my SD card at the moment.

Working for free to help shelter pets is a wonderful idea, and I'm sure they will appreciate it.

Your D90 far exceeds your skill at this point, so don't think buying a "better" camera will make your photos better. The three pics in your link are underexpsed, and at least one does not look sharp, but they are a beginning. Work on getting your focus sharp on the eyes. In Shelter photography, you want the entire dog or cat in focus so potential adopters can see the entire body.

After you get the basics of exposure and focus down, you can work on seeing and using good lighting, posing and framing. Here are few sites to help you with learning:

http://digital-photography-school.com/digital-photography-tips-for-beginners

http://jfletcherphoto.wordpress.com/2009/02/20/the-exposure-tiangle-in-beginner-speak-the-end-of-auto-mode/

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/...posure.htm

http://teenagephotographer.com/the-basics/

Have fun and happy shooting!

Only use photoshop to make a good photo better not to try and make a poor one passable

Looks like you need to learn how to use the internal light meter in your camera, because at the moment the images you linked to are under exposed - the top two are worse than the cat one.

Also there seems to be something wrong with the white balance - the images are all quite bluish.

If you can't get good shots with a Nikon D90, you will not get better shots by buying a new camera.

Forget about using Photoshop to fix your images. Get the photos right in the camera first.