How to capture my white dogs?

I'm still trying to figure out the exposure on my camera and the different modes (early days!) but keep blowing the white on my dogs - usually their head - particularly in sunlight.

Any advice on how to get some better pics of them without blowing the white would be much appreciated

Thanks

Use a grad filter??? that is if you camera lens will take one

Bazza

What light metering setting are you using?

Think it is best not to take shots in full sunlight if at all possible, I have recently taken shots of white geese in the sun and although the white is not blown it might just have well have been as the sun light area of the white feather is showing almost no detail. (See week 18 on my 52 challenge)

Bright shade or with a light cloud cover would be best IMO but there may be other ways around taking shots in full sun but I have never managed a white animal in full sun so look forward to your answers as much as you will.

Thanks guys - I'm hoping to get tips and then working out how on Earth you do it on my camera!

Not had the camera long and before this (which is only a bridge, not an SLR) I've only ever used a little P&S compact and just snapped pictures without really worrying about the composition or quality.

At the moment I'm using the Intelligent Auto or the sports settings because I haven't found out how to use the manual settings (been working and only had the camera since Sunday) so will have a look at the light metering and how I can alter it... still trying to work out how to alter the settings when taking a photo - I guess it'd help to find time to read the destructions!

I find even with carefull monorting it is not possible to get detail that is not there, in bright light the eye can't see detail and I think it asking too much of a camera, but I am happy to learn if it is possible.

A net?!

sorry!

xx

I was waiting for it Zoundz... it had to be you!

Thanks Snapper - I don't particularly mind for me - if I like the rest of the shot, I'll take it anyway but it's when I want to post them up here that it poses a problem!

Thanks again

I wait till mine are dirty.

Just kidding - It is tough especially when they are white and black as it's a case of either getting the black right or the white.

Just remember it's far easier to lighten something that's under-exposed rather than darken something that's over-exposed.

Bright sun can be a problem and asuming your shooting your dogs outdoors it can be frustrating as no sooner have you got it sussed then the light changes.

A lot depends on what settings you're using and much manual control you're taking on yourself.

Check what metering options you have available - results will vary depending how much you want the dog to fill the frame and also what the background is like.

No idea if this will help or not but these are pics I took a few days ago and the settings at the time - on my monitor and the 6x4 glossy prints I`ve done of them they are not blown but how they look to you will depend on how different your monitor settings are to mine, [ especially as I keep messing around with mine til I can get it calibrated

If they look ok to you perhaps try twiddling the settings on your camera to the same as a starting point then experiment from there ? [ bear in mind these were taken with my Nikon D40 dSLR but hopefully they will useful anyway for you depending on how many compatible settings your compact has ? ].

Silk, taken in bright sunshine, [ fresh from the groomers so she was at her sparkly truest white ]



Settings

Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 20.0mm (35mm equivalent: 30mm...
Exposure Time: 0.0016 s (1/640)
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO Equiv.: 200
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: matrix



Settings

Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 55.0mm (35mm equivalent: 82mm...
Exposure Time: 0.0012 s (1/800)
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO Equiv.: 200
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: matrix

Fluke, taken in grotty cloudy dull light



Settings :

Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 38.0mm (35mm equivalent: 57mm...
Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500)
Aperture: f/5.0
ISO Equiv.: 800
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: spot
Exposure: shutter priority (semi-auto)

A friends dog, very bright sunshine



Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 50.0mm (35mm equivalent: 75mm...
Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500)
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO Equiv.: 200
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: matrix

Phil is spot on re exposure tweaking, been there many times

Its only recently that I`ve started getting reasonable shots of mine and other peoples white dogs without them looking like they have been sunbathing next to a leaking nuclear reactor, the theory I`m working on is higher shutter speed lets in less light so I`ve been using that to fine tune where ISO settings are too far apart in increments to compensate easily especially where getting shots in a very short space of time is a factor, [ like at agility for instance ], probably not a very scientific way of going about it but it all adds to experimentation [ that`s my excuse ].

This lot will either be helpful if I`m explaining things well enough as per my limited understanding of ISO etc and white dog picture taking, or it will be useful when others with far more knowledge explain what I`ve got wrong in order to help both of us get it right 104: