Photographing Black dogs (and cats)

I have a very black dog...

cute pics

This isn't a different problem from shooting a person with very dark hair. The answer is how you light the hair, not to over expose it. Just as you'd put a hairlight on dark hair, for a dark-coated animal, the main light should be set like a hairlight. I'm talking about the old-school hairlights, not the modern style of "edge lighting" or "separation lighting."

This is a time you want specular highlights--it's the specular highlights that create the image of a dark-coated animal on a dark background-- so you'd put away the soft light modifiers and go with straight reflectors.

two examples of our Dobermann.

... and a HDR image of our white sheppard, who is evenly difficult to catch on a picture as the black one.....lol.

uploading pictures didn't go as intended.......

and the white one reloaded....

Managed to get the black one in the sun and the white one in the shadow - though capturing them together in one picture remains a challenge...... The white one managed to stick his head in the sun, resulting in the top of his head nearly washed out (but details have been lost).

njcfm wrote in post #11817604

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

SMP_Homer wrote in post #18300672

Hosted photo: posted by SMP_Homer in
./showthread.php?p=183​00672&i=i222479385
forum: Pets

These are great

We just had a black litter and it was very difficult to get good pics for the website. That's actually why I joined this forum. We need to learn how to take better pics.

the key is how the light hits them... correctly painting the highlights is what makes a black critter stand out, or blend in.

Photo from ksbal's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (732674)

ksbal wrote in post #18528135
the key is how the light hits them... correctly painting the highlights is what makes a black critter stand out, or blend in.

Gallery photo (hosted):
posted by ksbal originally in forum: Pets

Nice work, & a good choice of background for a black dog!

This was our Holiday card this year.

IMAGE LINK: https://photos.smugmug​.com …i-ZXVFwtT-X3.jpg&lb=1&s=A

R1200GS wrote in post #18786032
This was our Holiday card this year.

IMAGE LINK: https://photos.smugmug​.com …i-ZXVFwtT-X3.jpg&lb=1&s=A on Smugmug

If looks could kill! ; D