Best way to take photos of a black Dog?

Hi everyone!

I haven't been on in a while, mostly because I've hardly taken any photos recently. I don't have an excuse either!

Anyway, I need some help because I'm struggling to correctly expose my little man (black toy poodle) and I would love some more photos of him but every time I try I can't seem to get the right exposure or the bit I want is never in focus Part of the problem is he is constantly on the move but I know my camera can do it, just I can't!

Advice is very welcome!
Gina

Black dogs are notoriously difficult to expose correctly, as are white dogs.

Phil has a black lab and manages to get some excellent shot of his dog so hopefully he will see this thread and will be able to guide you.

The focusing part of your question is really down to practice. I use a 40D sometimes and I have the focusing set to AISERVO and the shutter to high speed multi shot. Personally I select just the centre focusing point.

Then it is down to you to try to anticipate what the dog is going to do next and follow him in the viewfinder with your finger half depressing the shutter button so that the focusing is active. You should be able to hear or feel your lens follow focusing as the dog moves about as long as you have the focusing point on him.

Exposure wise, I would suggest trying to take images on a bright but slightly overcast day. This helps by making the light less contrasty. Sadly you can't always order the weather as you would wish I would be tempted to put your camera into Matrix exposure mode and use RAW files.

This last suggestion will upset a few people because they cannot see the point in using RAW. My reason for shooting in RAW and suggesting you do is that with difficult subjects, like black dogs, Raw files give you greater flexibility in adjusting the exposure after the shot has been taken, in the RAW converter.

DPP should have come with your camera (you can get it here for free http://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/prod...ware/index.asp ) and is perfectly acceptable as a RAW converter.

Most of all though, it is practice, practice, practice.

Here's one of my efforts of Lucy, Black Lab, sadly no longer with me.



Good luck

Steve

Excellent advice from Steve! Usually I have little problem exposing for black dogs (in fairness we have 3 - so they're regular subjects for me ) but I wouldn't have the first clue *how* I do it... it just seems to work! I guess practicing a lot helps!

Here's one of my recent ones!
http://www.yophotographer.com/page.php?t=8377

xx

Thanks so much for the tips Steve, I'll give that a go!
Zoundz that's lovely! And I'm not jealous at all

I'd agree with all of the above.

I have the same camera as you (40d) and whilst I tend to use it in manual mode the sports mode seems to do pretty well with my black dog.

That said - I could add a mix of dull and shiny pics and include the settings if that helps.



Camera: Nikon D50
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV
Flash: Flash fired


Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire


Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire


Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/10
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire


Camera: Nikon D50
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 155 mm
Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV
Flash: Flash fired


Camera: Nikon D50
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 70 mm
Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV


Camera: Nikon D50
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 40 mm
Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV
Flash: Flash fired


Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1250)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

To photograph a black dog properly I reccomend a black Nikon.

Okay, tried this yesterday and I seem to be getting 3 results.
A: Lime green grass



B: No eyes



or C: Just about right!



I have a really nice one of him that is maybe a little dark although overall pretty good, but the background is distracting. I think I'll use it as a guide though because Phil's photos really helped.

In Adobe Photoshop Elements under Enhance>Adjust lighting>Shadows you can lighten the dog without lightening the grass.

What metering are you using?