This question really goes out to those of you with darker colored dogs. Just how in the hell do you manage to get good photos without staging them?
My couches are blue, Delilah is brown and my house is dark (hey electricity costs money, we have to save somewhere!)
I actually have a photo in my digital frame that doesn’t look like a photo, because it’s of Delilah curled up on the couch. I thought the frame was coming to the end of the road, until it switched to the next photo.
My favorite place to photograph Delilah is in the snow, the combination of her brown fur and the white snow is breathtaking. The hard thing is that she’s always on one end of the leash and I’m always on the other, which makes it damn difficult to get a good photo.
So the one place I really focus on taking pictures of her, is during our training classes. I now have a folder full of pictures like this.
Anyone care to take a shot at captioning this photo that was taken during one of our Nosework classes?
Oh and don’t forget to share your picture taking tips in the comments. 😉
Ha ha, most of our doggie pictures are taken on the end of a lead so we do know what you’re talking about!
Cute picture, I like pictures like that, the blooper ones. I have a nice camera but I can’t get it to take pictures in my dark house either, or inside a building, the shutter is so slow and I don’t know how to speed it up so I’m in the same boat as you so hopefully I will learn some tips too.
Roxy is darkish gray, so she is best photographed outside. i have some cute pics of her in the house though. But we have tons of natural light in the windows and beige furniture.
Most of my better photos are taken outside, usually in the yard where they can be off leash. The first time I heard the photo tip that you shouldn’t use a flash, I was so bummed out….flash photos in the house are the only way I can get my photos to not be blurry….since it’s the only way to freeze my pets who are constantly in motion, especially when they see the camera come out (that doesn’t even always work anyway)! So, I’m basically no help, other than commiserating on how difficult it is.
When Mom had a black dog, she took most photos outside. Now we have the big white dog which is hard in the winter. Any way you can avoid flash use should help too. If you have a camera with manual settings, you can adjust the white balance.
My mom is always in the end of the leash. She ought to come up to my end I think.
Well shoot a caption is hopping out at me…lol…I can only come up with something once a month or so. 😉 It is a cute picture.
I just started playing with the lighting settings on our camera. It is not as easy to take a good picture in low light as it is with my dslr. But I think if I take the time to play I can improve.
If I have hubby to help, I can get good pictures (training or posed) without him I struggle. That is what I would like to learn more about with photography is managing light (or more correctly the settings on my cameras because often I can’t control the light).
I long ago quit taking photos because they never came out well and proved to just be an embarrassment.
I have absolutely no picture taking tips!!! LOL I am sorry, but I am no good at taking pics….i dunno why….but it never seems to work out!!!!
I wish you luck! :))
((husky hugz))
“love is being owned by a husky”
I have a tough time getting action shots, but the good ones are always outside with the right lighting. I take about 20 or 30 shots and usually a single photo is decent. My dog is black, and he looks good around sunset when the low light hits him. For indoor photos, I also have to find good lighting and put him in a stay position. He usually looks pretty awkward 🙂
We have a similar problem with our Holly collie. I have found that she generally photographs best outdoors. I have friend, and she has a beautiful black mix, named Dahlia. She always manages to take gorgeous pictures of her girl. Her blog is here:
http://www.thespottedtongue.com/
You should stop by, she is always happy to give photography advice. And of course this blog:
http://romp-roll-rockies.blogspot.com/
ALWAYS has stunning photograghs of her chocolate lab! So I guess I didn’t help much, but I enjoy your pictures and love to learn more about dog photograghy.
Rita has a mostly black face, so it’s hard to get good photos of her in our living room, which is a bit on the dark side. I try to take most pics of her either outside, or during the day in our sunroom (which you might guess by the name is full of light). It’s a bummer about the night shots indoors though, cuz she often does cute stuff but I can’t get a good shot/video of it!
Cute shot!
Yep – sympathize with your photography struggles. Black dogs are tough to photograph and I have 100s, if not 1000s, of pictures of Moses and Alma just looking like blobs.
Natural light, obviously, produces the best results, and having them face the light (rather than being in front of it) is key (for natural or indoors).
Then, shooting in RAW and depending on your software, you can play with settings to lighten up the dark spots and the shadows without messing with the lighting in the rest of the photo.
Black dogs on snow is tough, because the camera picks up the two extremes of white and black, and I’m still working on the best photo editing techniques for that.
And as with all of them, I take tonnes of pictures and cross my fingers one or two work out!
Hey, I have a quick question I wanted to ask you about your blog, do you think you could send me an email when you get this? Thanks! Tiffany
Caption for Delilah in nosework class – “Yeah, I got an A.”
It was very difficult to get a good photo of my black dog, Sephi. Indoors without flash, she looked like a black blob. Indoors with flash, she looked like a black and white dog because the flash highlighted her too much. So all the best photos of her were taken outdoors, or indoors where natural light was abundant.
Use natural light to your best advantage. My favorite pictures of our black dogs are the ones where we had diffuse, natural light. Harsh, noon day sun will just reflect off of them too hard, but inside, with the curtains open, you should be able to get some nice pictures. Sometimes adjusting the setting on your camera will help some, too. Or, use your flash, just put something over it to diffuse it a little and make the glare off her less harsh. A thin piece of Styrofoam can work for that. It lets some light through, but keeps it from being too much.
Cute picture and good lighting/coloring! I haven’t taken any recent pictures of Princess lately, but all the good shots happen when I don’t have my camara!!! I noticed that outside pics are great, but lots of sunshine in my house too and she comes out decent, I think? hhahaha Indoors I always have the flash on. Good luck!
I agree with a lot of the other commenters, natural light is your best friend. I always try to take photos outside or in front of a window. But then the background can be a pain, especially this time of year when our yard is gross and brown. You can also play around with the settings on your camera, or if you use an iPhone, try tapping a dark part of the dog (i usually aim for their chest), then take it. Your phone will automatically lighten it up so you can see the darker parts!
We have a black couch and it is impossible to see Kolchak or Felix on it. I bought a soft, silky grey fleece throw to go on it that makes it so much easier to see them! I’ve also strategically placed extra lighting over the couch area (on a remote because I don’t like it on all the time so that I can pop it on for a second if a picture op presents itself. For me, nothing really beats natural, bright light.
When I am using fake light, I like to diffuse it. I have shades over the lights by the couch and one of these on my camera flash: http://www.diyphotography.net/the-party-bouncer-is-back-in-business