>>But other than that, go for it. I really have no idea what I'm doing, and I'd like to learn.

I'm glad you're up for it! I'm no photo pro ("not much experience" either), but I can give you suggestions to start thinking more along the line of decent photos.

The biggest thing for me is the hand holding of the animal. Yeah, this scenario gets posted on KS here a hundred times a day I'm sure. It's a big yawn for most people. Like you said, a white background is a good idea since it limits the focus to just the animal (which is why we're here right?). And as you figured out, a distracting background is a negative, although it's nice to know that other people's laundry is piles as high as mine!

In addition, watch the focus! As a general rule you want the eyes of the animal to be in sharp focus. Try to fit as much of the animal in the frame, it is distracting to only see half of the body, and be looking for the other half.

Hope that helps some, otherwise keep visiting this forum and see how other people compose their shots. It'll take a while to get up to the level of chrish, WK et. al., but the more you watch others, the more you'll learn.
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"The irrational fear of snakes is the only excuse a grown man has... to act like a complete sissy" - Colchicine

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