help with dogs and cats

[KartGirlsMom]

My neighbor asked me to take a picture of their "family". They set up this backdrop and props in their garage. I want to go over and do it again as I am not at all happy how they turned out.

They definitely want to use the same back drop and props. How do I get the white cat to not blow out and still be able to see the black dogs' eyes?

This is a very small area - way too close to use my 50mm 1.8 --I had to use my cruddy 19-35 f3.5 Quantaray--I can't back up any more as it is enclosed so the birds don't fly away. No other lighting available.

http://www.beattheboys.com/dogs/rhonda.jpg

[RichardtheSane]

What was your light source?

[dphoto]

Hello,

I'm no pro, but my first suggestion would be to get a tighter shot. You could move that white dog on the right next to the black dog in front. Then move that lighthouse closer to the human subjects. I suggest this because the birds came out a bit small, IMO. As for the color contrast, have you tried shooting in raw mode? Also, if the people don't move and the white cat and the black dog are not touching each other, you might be able to get away with taking two exposures and blending them together. If you can't do that, you could take one shot in raw mode and use two different exposure compensation values to expose differently for the cat and the dogs. Then blend those images together. Lastly, maybe some sort of work lights on the black dogs may help, although it might not look right. Just throwing some ideas out there. :D

Good luck, and looks like you have a fun bunch to work with! :D
-Deva