Photographing Black dogs (and cats)

[JediRach]

I have two black dogs and I cannot seem to get a good picture of them. Does anyone have an tips to help me capture a good crisp image of my dogs?

[Ricardo222]

I have two black dogs and I cannot seem to get a good picture of them. Does anyone have an tips to help me capture a good crisp image of my dogs?

Tricky!

My first suggestion is to not photograph them with a very light (contrasting) background, as the dynamic range becomes too great for the sensor to easily handle. I know there are ways around that, but lets keep it as simple as possible.

I have a black dog and have found that I often have the same trouble you have, but the successes tend to be when the contrast range is not too high. Also, of course, when the light is falling on even a black dog in the right direction the coat takes on some texture.

I could post some pics if you don't mind me posting them on your thread.

[Ricardo222]

Of course, I forgot to say, that you need to keep the exposure on the generous side. In normal light conditions the automatic or Av settings will under expose anything black. Then of course you have to be careful not to blow out the rest of the picture!

[JediRach]

Tricky!

I could post some pics if you don't mind me posting them on your thread.

Feel free. I will try to find some I have taken of my dogs for CC//help.

[JediRach]

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4085/5023957031_690f852e07_z.jpg

This is pretty much the best one I have.

[Ricardo222]

Feel free. I will try to find some I have taken of my dogs for CC//help.

One shot is a high contrast situation with one dog mostly black with no detail...other dog has sufficient light reflecting off his coat to give some texture.

Other shot was made in shadow with much less contrast range and shows good detail. (Somewhat disgruntled dog, though, by her expression!)

[Ricardo222]

This is pretty much the best one I have.

Cute dog! Have you tried "shadows and highlights" in the 'Image/adjustments' menus? If not over-done it can help.

Also, are you shooting in raw? You will have more to work with in correcting contrast if you do.

If you're grabbing quick shots then it can be tricky to deal with the contrast, but in that shot a reflecter would have made a big difference in throwing some detail into the shadow and the right eye...but it can be distracting for the dog!

[bfleck51]

as you can see here..even when you get the correct exposure for the face you loose your backround...whites are easy to shoot its black thats the tuff one!

http://bfleck51.zenfolio.com/img/s1/v19/p992159606-3.jpg

[dnauer]

Had a challenge photographing my agility instructor's Belgian Sheepdog, but used my 40D and a 200mm f2.8L on a bright day and came up with this:

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz17/dnauer/RingJumping.jpg

[KatManDEW]

I'm familiar with your problem. I have two black cats, and one black and white cat. As bad is black is, black and white is even worse. If I get some detail in her black fur, her white fur is blown out. If I get detail in here white fur, her black fur is a black blob.

To make matters worse, my cats are indoor cats, so I can't get pics of them in full daylight, and it seems to me that good lighting is the key. I have to resort to flash.

http://www.katmandew.com/images/Photos/550D/Kittys/IMG_5313.jpg

[windpig]

With shooting black objects the detail is from direct reflection not diffused reflection. Increasing exposure will only turn the black (actually dark brown) fur gray. Look at the picture of the dog in post #4, if another light to camera left was set up the same as the light to camera right, the two combined would have given an even exposure if that is what was wanted. Great pic BTW.

[Crystal W Photography]

Use a gray card.
The camera only sees 18% gray. Which is why, whites (snow) and blacks do not come out white and black, it's comes out grey.
Focus the camera on the gray card, remove card and shoot your subject.

[njcfm]

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_ouASqcnV78o/SxmhstCDL4I/AAAAAAAAAwU/7INUFEWhi88/s640/caddymonster2.jpg

it is even harder when your other dog is a light color..

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_ouASqcnV78o/TQn9cp6bO2I/AAAAAAAACFs/ekLNMbT8Riw/s640/IMG_0157.jpg

[windpig]

njcfm
Nice pics, cute dogs.
the second shot makes my point about reflection on the fir bringing out the detail.
the exposure in the second is good, it doesn't matter what the color of the other dog is, exposure is what it is.

[njcfm]

njcfm
Nice pics, cute dogs.
the second shot makes my point about reflection on the fir bringing out the detail.
the exposure in the second is good, it doesn't matter what the color of the other dog is, exposure is what it is.

yes, there was alot of light in the 2nd pic.. the first was mid-day sun..

however the differences in their colors and their sizes makes pictures of both of them difficult, higher f-stops, fast shutter speeds, and luck are required for pics of my pups.

depending on your dogs coat, light reflection can/will help

[JediRach]

I know what you mean about it being hard to get a picture of a light and dark dog together. We have one white dog and two black ones. Going to try again today. I will post pictures if I get any good ones.

[AntonLargiader]

Use a gray card.
The camera only sees 18% gray. Which is why, whites (snow) and blacks do not come out white and black, it's comes out grey.
Focus the camera on the gray card, remove card and shoot your subject.

That's OK advice about metering in general, but it doesn't help the specifics of getting detail on a black cat or dog. Can you post some sample shots where this helped you?

[windpig]

That's OK advice about metering in general, but it doesn't help the specifics of getting detail on a black cat or dog. Can you post some sample shots where this helped you?

It's not just an exposure issue, it's also a light placement issue. The detail in black fur is going to be from highlights from direct reflection, on white fur it's going to be from shadows.

Light; Science and Magic covers this, it's an awesome book..

[Dave Jr]

it is even harder when your other dog is a light color..

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_ouASqcnV78o/TQn9cp6bO2I/AAAAAAAACFs/ekLNMbT8Riw/s640/IMG_0157.jpg

Great shot, very nice lighting. Hilarious!

[vmaidens@gmail.com]

I shoot a lot of black dogs, a lot of black and white border collies. I really want it to be be overcast and I expose to the right everytime, if not you lose all the detail.

Windpig is dead on, that book is excellent.

http://vincemaidensphotography.com/img/s8/v9/p457761466-4.jpg

http://vincemaidensphotography.com/img/s10/v18/p21922385-4.jpg

[Meanderthal]

Nicely exposed, Vince. Here's black on white. In manual, I set ISO at 800 to suit fast action on an overcast day and f/4 to blur the background a bit. Then, in spot metering, I aimed at a gray fence post, and used the main dial to get the camera's suggested shutter speed. 1/750 was OK for action shots. If not, I would have adjusted ISO, aperture, or both. I snapped a trial shot and saw on the LCD that the image seemed exposed OK. The light remained the same 'till my fingers got cold, so I just fired away whenever the action was promising, without changing the settings.

My conclusion: Whenever the light will be the same for a while, Manual is easy to use. It works for black dogs, white dogs and pink dogs with polka dots, in snow, on the beach, anywhere. As long as there is an 18% gray to meter off.

[jckaphotography]

Pretty animals!

[Playm]

I typically shoot on manual. .. often use a fill flash or bounce card. .. but the following images were shot (quicky candids) the other day without any fill.. and (I got lazy), shot them on AV. I usually run everything I shoot through Lightroom though. .. it makes a decent shot a good shot. I'm sure I added some fill light to these in Lightroom.

I've got a portrait sitting tomorrow on a black lab. I plan to use a bounce card and/or fill flash though. I'll try to show the differences in the shooting styles when I get the pix processed.

This is my 21 mo. old GSD Ellie. .. shot in the late afternoon. (you want to avoid mid-day sun)

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z246/Donalyn06/11%2004%20April/LR043011-1035.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z246/Donalyn06/11%2004%20April/LR043011-1052.jpg

[Marionne]

I have this same issue. I get great shots of my yellow lab, the black one not so much. If I get a good one I feel like I just lucked into it.

[Ricardo222]

What about when the beast seems to be a little disgruntled!

[Bianchi]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-IcLB2VY2gDo/TgfUF1_BVtI/AAAAAAAAA9M/OdP8E8VxB3Q/s512/Daggitip.jpg

[chrysanthe]

Hi. I read somewhere that you must expose for the dog and use exposure compensation on the plus side. Background will overexpose, but dog/animal should be clear.

[Gundogs]

A black dog I photographed at the weekend.

http://i1040.photobucket.com/albums/b404/penelgundogs/Epsom%20canine%20rescue%20dog%20show/IMG_4494-2.jpg

I think she was a yorkshire terrier crossed with a poodle, known otherwise as a yorkiepoo.

[Earguy]

I learned a lot from the book "PhoDOGraphy": http://www.amazon.com/Phodography-How-Great-Pictures-your/dp/081742718X

She devotes an entire chapter to photographing black dogs. #1 advice: fill flash.

Many of the shots on her web site made it into the book. www.kimlevin.com

[Ricardo222]

A black dog I photographed at the weekend.



Your dog must have the same hair-dresser that I use! It takes me hours to get that "carefree" look!:D

[Jason L]

If you are shooting a black dog outdoors, just meter off the blue sky. I have two black labs and this has always worked well for me, especially in the winter.

[mjordan]

Dark and black dogs can be a real challenge. When I first started shooting black dogs, I kept trying to add more light thinking that would help, but usually all I got was a brighter black blob. :D Then I realized that black hair (or fur depending on the dog) is no different than shooting someone in a black tux or a dark skinned person. As it was mentioned earlier in this thread, it's not only exposure control but also light placement.

Black absorbs light, so you have to skim light across it to get detail to show up. Once I started putting my lights off to the side, I started getting a lot more detail out of the black haired dogs I was shooting.

http://www.sitnprettyphoto.com/display/dyna/dyna4307.jpg

http://www.sitnprettyphoto.com/display/alister/alister3448.jpg

Even with light colored objects in the scene as well:
http://www.sitnprettyphoto.com/display/alister/alisterfrank3378.jpg

http://www.sitnprettyphoto.com/display/alister/frank3384.jpg

With all of these I have a light at the camera position and one that is equal in strength angled to skim across the hair to provide detail. Outdoors, I try to get the sun light angled the same way, so that it skims across the dog, but with active dogs, I don't always have that choice, so I shoot for the shadows and let the highlights (background) do what it will and then I'll adjust if I can in Photoshop. This is why I always shoot in raw, so I have as much latitude as I can get. It can still be a challenge outdoors though if you are shooting active dogs and not posing them like indoors.

Mike

[neil_r]

The shadow / highlight tool in PS can be a real friend here. Turn the image into a smart object first as that will let you set the dynamic range for the adjustment.

[windpig]

Nice images Mike

What you're saying fell on deaf ears early on in this thread.
Lighting black objects and skin and lighting white objects and skin require different methods. It's another lighting scenario that is so well covered in Light; Science and Magic.

[AntonLargiader]

Very nice shots. The third one is great!

Seems to me those dogs aren't really black. There is a lot of light-colored hair in there and the hair doesn't seem very reflective. Still, I'm certainly not disagreeing with the approach. In fact, I'll try to take some shots of one of our cats using light from different angles and post comparisons.

[mjordan]

Windpig, Ive had that book for a lot of years and it does have some great information in it. I used it a lot when I started shooting glass a lot to work on controlling the reflections and hot spots.

Anton, yes, they have a grayish undercoat that shows through. It's actually part of their breeding so they would blend in with the Belgium fog (they are Belgium cattle herding dogs and were used a lot in WWI and WWII because they could sneak through enemy lines so well).

Thanks

Mike

[Two rivers]

I have a black dog and most of the time I take one, adjust, take another etc etc.

I never use the flash on her, makes her look terrible. I hate the flash on anything.

These two were taken outside, with the afternoon sun behind me.

[StinkyBunny]

This is what happens with flash on a wet Lab, lol.

http://www.freakyshiat.com/upload/files/312/katie.jpg

[JReichert]

Black pets . . . that really is a challenge.

Here's my attempt (http://joannareichertphotography.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/my-date-with-a-moose/) with a black lab in the snow. Not blowing out his surroundings were tricky indeed!

[smorris985]

This one attempt with my black dog. I find that my camera has trouble focusing on her in low light, whereas it doesn't struggle at all with my golden. I try to focus on her eye, or her grey, and that seems to work. Any advice on that?

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JDKl_gxqxTM/TzxxJKfSBjI/AAAAAAAAADw/1wAH9WjOWjA/s640/IMG_1741.jpg

[Jason L]

^^manual focus or keep doing what you are doing. The AF system needs contrast to focus, which there is very little of on a black dog. I usually just focus on the eyes since that is what you want to focus on anyways.

[Shutterwolf]

I find that on a bright day, shooting in a shaded area seems to work. This isnt the greatest shot, but the color and detail of my dog is pretty good. I have decided that my next dog will be a golden retriever or a yellow lab though, because it really does suck trying to get a good shot of a black/white dog.

(before anyone says anything, I'm half teasing. I want a golden retriever for many good reasons, that just happens to fit in with it)

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/548009_112448545556265_109574955843624_61815_17770 87017_n.jpg