Black Dogs Make The Case For Professional Pet Portraits
I've talked in the past about the benefits of working with a pet photographer to create images of your pet; about how important it is for you to have pictures of you and your pet together (without your arm extended out of the frame in the selfie), demonstrating your unconditional love for one another.
Whether it's the way you carry them like a baby, or how they like to sit on your feet, these are things you'll never want to forget and can only be created by working with a professional pet photographer.
Apart from creating photos of you and your pet together, probably the next best reason to work with a pro is if you have a black pet. Solid black dogs and cats are notoriously difficult to photograph (and why they're often the last to be adopted from the shelter, they don't have any cute pictures marketing them!). They tend to look like dark blobs with no distinct facial features and eyes...somewhere in there.
A professional pet photographer will bring camera, lighting, and retouching knowledge to your session so that your black dog, cat, or horse will look stunning in their portraits. Read on for 3 great reasons why you want to work with a pro.
1) Don't Make Your Black Dog Blue
Even though digital photography is now the norm, digital images still need to be developed just like their film counterparts, the tools are just different. Where once the darkroom was the workshop of the photographer, now it's the computer and a host of various software programs that help them complete the last mile of the creative process.
Something that every pet and equine photographer knows is that black animals photograph blue. It's a combination of the reflection of the open sky as well as the ambient light available which is cooler in open shade areas.
Additionally, today's cameras are great, but they still cannot capture the full range of light that the human eye can; 10-14 stops versus 8-11 for the latest model digital camera (you can think of a stop as a measurement of light to dark).
Color and light go hand in hand in photography; the human eye can distinguish about 10 million colors whereas the most advanced digital camera can only distinguish 3 (red, green, and blue). The camera sensor has a filter that eliminates some colors that are not present in the light that the subject is reflecting, what's left is what makes the final image.
A professional photographer will have the know-how and tools to address issues like your black dog looking a bit blue in the image (and removing redness in the eyes, and dandruff on the fur and the leash) as was done in the before and after below.
2) Professional Lighting Makes Your Scruffy Dog's Eyes Shine
If you have a doodle of any flavor, you might have noticed that you can never see their eyes in any of your pictures. Their curly hair, eyebrows or terrier scruff covers them up. Compound that problem with black fur like Bobby below and you can lose their entire face.
Using professional lighting, whether in my Carrollton studio or on location in and around the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex, I bring your pup's eyes to life. You need catchlights (those little specs of light) in the eyes to draw the viewer into the subject and have them linger on the image. Mammals always look at eyes first, so they need to be attention-worthy for a great pet portrait.
An added benefit of working with a professional photographer to create photos of your black pet is the detail you'll see in their fur! Whether you have a scruffy pup or a long-haired feline, you'll want to capture the texture and glory that is their calling card.
3) Professional Pet Photography That Captures True Colors
I usually photograph with a strobe flash, even outdoors. If you thought my images used natural light, then I'm doing my job well because that's my ultimate goal. To create a beautiful, naturally lit epic portrait of your pet or horse.
Natural light does have its drawbacks. It can be difficult to create variety at a location solely using natural light because perfectly sweet, golden light really only occurs for a couple of hours a day and its direction may not align exactly where you want it to capture that dog on a log or horse in the field of Texas wildflowers.
I don't use the strobe flash as the primary light source for the subject, but rather just to fill in the shadows (which is very important with black dogs) and for the color! Using daylight-balanced flash produces beautiful color as your eye saw it.
The images below are a perfect example, they're consecutive frames and straight out of the camera without a lick of retouching. I captured the frame on the left faster than the flash could recycle, so it's using "natural light". The next frame is with the benefit of a flash fill. Just look at the difference in color between the two. I was in a fairly shaded area, so the overall color of the ambient light is fairly cool - but just look at the color of the dog, the rock, and the greenery in the foreground. So much closer to the true colors of the scene.
All Around the Pet Photography Circle
It's the photographer's choice this week in the pet photographer's blog circle, so I can't wait to see what variety of topics we get so let's head on over to Syracuse NY photographer Nancy Kieffer shares her recent session with Hank and family to see what she's sharing and then continue clicking on the link at the bottom of the post until you land right back here and then you will have completed the circle.
Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography is a Certified Professional Photographer with the organization Professional Photographers of America; a designation held by fewer than 2,000 photographers nationwide and a hallmark of consistency, technical skill, artistry, and professionalism. Tracy was recently awarded first place in the animal portrait category by the Dallas Professional Photographers of America guild in 2022.
Penny Whistle specializes in both on-location and studio photography providing pet, equine, family, and high school senior portraits as well as corporate headshots and commercial photography services in her studio located in historic downtown Carrollton as well as on-location in Coppell, Grapevine, Southlake, Flower Mound and surrounding communities in Dallas – Fort Worth, Texas.
3 Comments
Feb 24, 2023, 11:14:15 PM
Elaine - You are so on the money with this blog. Every pet needs to look exactly as their owners see them, right down to the correct color of their fur.
Feb 24, 2023, 11:06:14 AM
Terri Jankelow - So true - the little details in getting the right colour on a black dog and lovely sparkling eyes, make all the difference to a professional looking photo.
Feb 24, 2023, 10:58:40 AM
Angela Schneider - Ah, great post. I usually hear "you'll never get his eyes" from people with black dogs. Challenge accepted. ;-)