How to photograph black dogs (en)

arminzera.no - flatcoated retrievere

This page is beeing translated step by step.

Flatcoated retrievers are made for speed and fun. To capture them with a camera will never show their lively living, but nevertheless, here comes a few tips.

Innholdsfortegnelse 1 Capture the speed 2 See the world from a dog's perspective 3 Wide angle distorts 4 Think about where the object are 5 Think about the background 6 But it's getting all black 7 Some tips for manual light settings and centered focus area 8 Pekere

Capture the speed

Short shutter time and fast response time on the camera is an requirement, if you wan't anything more than black shadows randomly spotted on the picture. A digital SLR camera, Nikon D50 / D70 or Canon 350s is a nice friend to have. In most cases, the sport setting will give you good pictures, and most important capture more than just some blackness.

See the world from a dog's perspective

Ovenfra-og-ned-bilder vil muligens gjenspeile en del hundeeieres forhold til hunden. Men hvis man virkelig vil få fram hunden slik den er, bør man bøye knærne og komme seg ned i øyehøyde med hunden. Et godt alternativ for valper og små hunder er nok å løfte de opp på et bord. I tillegg kan det lønne seg å se naturlige opphøyninger rundt seg - terrasser, trapper, bakketopper - og forsøke å være i øyehøyde med hunden.

Wide angle distorts

If the focal length is shorter than 35mm on an ordinary digital SLR, the world becomes more and more distorted. In most cases, we don't want distorted dogs, and should be careful with wide angle lenses. There are other advantages with zooming in, which I will come back to.

Think about where the object are

• A third from one or two of the corners of the photo, is usually good.
• Is the dog in motion, place the object so that it don't runs out of the photo.
• Get close, but remember that you also want a background.

Think about the background

In most situations, the best thing is a serene background. We want to have attention on the motive. There are several ways:

• Keep the distance to the background. 3 meters or more is the best for portraits.
• Use an objective that magnifies a bit, and has a wide blender. Personally I use a fixed 85mm objective, and has the blender mostly on 1:1.8 (except when the sun shines). With wide blender (low number) and long lense, the objects out of focus will be blurry.
• If you have a horizon on the picture (often a good thing), avoid having it in the middle or near the border. A third from top or bottom is usually good.
• On a printout, you should have a 2-3 cm background over the dog's head, but when your shooting, it is good to have some extra.

* Avoid that light poles, garden equipment and trees grows out of the dogs head.

But it's getting all black

- Or worse: all gray.

Colors and light are usually a great challenge, but with black dogs it's getting even harder. The camera often measures less light than actually when it is a lot of black, and it is also hard to get the auto focus to function correct. If it is sunny, a black silhouette or a black and gray dog is often the result.

• Avoid sunlight. The cloudy days, but still bright days, are the best outside photo session days.
• Avoid build-in-blitz or the sun directly up front. You will lose the dept in the picture and get a flat dog. You can turn up the ISO setting on the camera, but then you should also turn on "noise reduction" for avoiding grains in the picture, which easily appears when using high ISO-value.
• If you have to have pictures in the sun, get the sun in from the side, but in a way that lightens up the most of the dog.

Some tips for manual light settings and centered focus area

It is faster to take pictures with settings like these, in addition it gives a bit more control. On Nikon and Canon SLR cameras: Set det camera on M. With the wheel on your right thumb, you will now set your shutter time. The blender opening is there several ways to set - see the instructions for the camera. On the settings menu, you can choose centered focus, and you can also choose to take series of photos.

• When you look in to the camera, you will see a bar that tells you if you are over- or underexposuring. If you have centered focus area, it will be a good idea to check how the setting is when your not holding the center against a black dog. That will often be more correct. Take a test shot. Check the screen if the settings are ok. You should avoid totally black or white spots (burnouts).
• To faster get correct focus, choose centered focus, push the button half way down when your on a spot with clear contrast, for example the border between the dog and the rest of the world. Keep the hold, while turning the camera back to correct position.

Pekere

• New York Institute of Photography - Seven Habits of the Successful Pet Photographer
• Lucy the Wonder Dog - How To Get Your Pet To Strike The Pose
• Lexar - Tips for photographing pets
• Dog Pix and Flix - A Few Photo Tips.