Havanese Forum banner

Photographing a black dog...i need help

2K views 31 replies 11 participants last post by  krandall 
#1 · (Edited)
So Gemma had her New years bath and because it's so cold here I had to blowdry her completely (she hates the blowdryer so sometimes we shortcut it and let her airdry). I love how she looks when she's been blown dry, so I decided to get out my good camera and try and get some good photos. After about a hundred photos and got a few good ones, but not as good as I'd like. Once again I'm so frustrated that I can't capture her silky black fur and pick up her facial expressions in the same photo. If i can get her eyes then the fur color is washed out and if i get her glossy black fur then her facial features disappear and her white blends into the background. I tried experimenting with different light, flashes, no flashes and camera settings. Here's what I got, but if anyone is an experience photographer and could give me some help I would really appreciate it!

So far it seems the indoor ones with indirect natural light and no flash works the best, but that takes a longer exposure so they end up a little blurry if she doesn't stay still (and keeping a 1 year old havanese still is a bit of a challenge).
 

Attachments

See less See more
5
#6 ·
still great pictures. I painted Molly white., it was easier. :biggrin1:
 
#8 ·
Black and white dogs are very difficult for a camera sensor to handle. (I would know!!!;)) It depends somewhat on what kind of equipment you are using what your options are. The best result can be obtained with a DSLR with spot metering, and then use good image processing software, like PS Elements or Lightroom. (Photoshop works great too, but unless you're a photography fanatic, you probably don't want to spend the big bucks for it OR learn to use it... Both the other programs are less than $100 and relatively easy to learn)

If you have a DSLR, expose for the white, since, if you blow that out, you can't recover it) and then pull the details out of the dark in you processing software. You can do "spot" adjustments in both of these programs to pull detail out specifically in the eyes if you need to)

You can use a low power "fill flash", preferably off-camera, to get some like into their eyes indoors or out. Sometimes this actually looks best OUTDOORS, where the flash can't out compete the sunlight. If you have a P&S, the built-in flash is low enough powered that if you aren't too close, it can be useful too. If you need to tone down the one on a P&S, you can play around with taping a few layers of tissue paper over the flash until you get the effect you like. (You can do this with the built-in flash on a DSLR too)

Just as bright, indirect light is best indoors, bright overcast days are much better than strong sun shine outdoors. The overcast acts as a diffuser, and reduces the tonal range to something the camera sensor can handle. A small pop of flash can still add a nice catch light to the eye and make them "pop" more. Another EXCELLENT way to throw light into a dark face is to set the dog up facing a white wall... house, garage, etc. You shoot toward the dog (away from the white wall) allowing the wall to act like a big reflector, bouncing light into the dog's face. This photo of Kodi was taken exactly that way... no after capture adjustments were made to this other than a tiny bit of vibrance and clarity added. Actually, there is a TON more detail in the image than shows here on the forum... the forum, for some reason, makes all my images appear darker and not as sharp. If I am adjusting something specifically for the forum, I take this into consideration and lighten/sharpen it a but more. But in this case, I wanted to show you the file close to how it came out of the camera.
 

Attachments

#20 ·
If you have a DSLR, expose for the white, since, if you blow that out, you can't recover it) and then pull the details out of the dark in you processing software. You can do "spot" adjustments in both of these programs to pull detail out specifically in the eyes if you need to)
Karen's metering method might work fine, but I prefer to meter off something grey. If you cah't find something true grey to meter, try metering off grass. Green grass and grey should both work very well.
 
#9 ·
Thanks Karen, I have a DSLR (Canon Rebel). It's a few years old but works fairly well. I have photoshop, but whenever I try to use it my photo ends up looking "photoshopped". I'll try the white wall trick for sure and will beak out the photoshop software again to see if i can make it work.
 
#10 ·
Are you shooting RAW or JPG? You lose a LOT of information if you're shooting JPG, that is recoverable in a RAW file. Also, are you using the most recent version of PS? If not, the algorithims have changed quite a bit,making subtle adjustments much easier, especially when processing a RAW file in Bridge. (Lightroom is basically a "prettier" version of Bridge, taken out of PS)

If you don't have the newest version of PS, it's probably cheaper to buy LR as a stand-alone than it is to upgrade.
 
#15 ·
Yes, I'm sure your camera can shoot RAW... Even my 10D, the first "consumer" priced Canon DSLR, could shoot RAW. I'm sure that by the time the Rebels came out they would have had RAW capability as well. You'll be astounded how much more information is at your disposal, especially if you then work in 16 bit mode in PS (or LR... Not sure whether Elements offers 16 bit processing, it might).
 
#12 ·
Gemma is beautiful!! I'm no pro, for sure. I do think that on the outside shots, with the snow behind her, you might try using a flash (indirect, pointed upward) to get the details of her beautiful face. B&W dogs are a challenge. Also, try processing them as black and white photos! And, the wonder of digital is that we can afford to take a hundred shots to get a couple good ones!
 
#16 ·
Pointing a flash up only works if you have a ceiling or reflector to bounce it off of. If it's pointed up outdoors, the light is directed straight into the air, and won't hit the subject at all.
 
#18 ·
It's certainly not easy!:). But I specifically was looking for a performance dog, and chose Kodi based on that. His parents seem to only produce two "models"... Kodi's black head, white body type, and black puppies with white trim. Not totally surprising, I guess, since his mom is marked like him, and his dad is black with white trim.:biggrin1:

And while Kodi may be hard to photograph, but his striking markings make him really stand out. Everyone remembers the little white dog with the black head!:biggrin1:
 
#19 · (Edited)
What is RAW?
Mine are hard to photograph too! Gemma's markings are exactly the same as Maddies. I think the difference is her size. Maddie has smaller features like her face. Maddie is only 8 lbs how much does Gemma weigh?
This is a bad picture as far as showing the black and tan but look at how much they look alike. I know we have said it before. :)
 

Attachments

#21 ·
Cameras that produce JPG files do some processing in-camera, then compress the files so they take up less space on the card. The problem is that they "trow away" a lot of useful image information that can't be retrieved later. RAW files are like a "digital negative". They contain every tiny bit of information the sensor captured. BUT they take up a lot more room on the card, AND they need to be processed in some sort of image editing software (typically Photoshop or Lightroom) before you can do anything else with them.

The advantage, in a situation like this, is that with good software, you can recover details in the highlight and shadow portions of the image that would be lost by in-camera JPG processing. Most, if not all, DSLR's can shoot in RAW (or Nikon uses another name for the same thing) there are only a very few, high end, P&S's that can capture RAW images.

That said, in this specific picture, Suzi, you've done a very good job capturing the tonal range from light to dark. Because you shot her in strong, filtered light, with no direct sun on here, you have almost complete tonality, in her dark and light areas. You can't see her eyes mostly because of her hair, not because the photo is too dark!:)
 
#26 ·
Wow, this thread is way over my head, but I love the pictures, good or bad. Karen, that pic of Kodi in amongst the flowers is outstanding. The colors are gorgeous. I'll let all of you photographers hash this one out.
 
#27 ·
Mary, the flowers were just luck. That whole paddock (where Kodi's agility course is) was solid violets that spring. It hadn't happened for years. The last time I saw it like that was when my 20 year old was a baby. I have a photo of him lying in the violets. I hope I don't have to wait another 20 years!!!:)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top