Any tips for taking photos of my white dogs?

[NorthernFocus]

Yeah I've got a tip. Take plenty of photos. Before you know it the little buggers are gone...

[GeoBonsai]

Yeah I've got a tip. Take plenty of photos. Before you know it the little buggers are gone...

I hope my pups live long enough for me to improve my photography skills so I can take plenty of photos of them that are as good as the very fine dog images on your website!

[chauncey]

It's a dog William...not one of Geoff or David's insects... dog??? D+O+G, OK??? Got that???

Izzie, get a grip on it...you folks should by now be aware that my sense of humor is somewhat
perverted/distorted/depraved/corrupt/etc.

On the other hand...a small dose of Benadryl would work.

[IzzieK]

Just testing....

Izzie, get a grip on it...you folks should by now be aware that my sense of humor is somewhat
perverted/distorted/depraved/corrupt/etc.

On the other hand...a small dose of Benadryl would work.

[rpcrowe]

I have posted this idea several times on various threads but, it seems appropriate to this thread. Forgive me if you have seen it before.

I got the idea from Moose Peterson's wonderful wildlife website www.moosepeterson.com. He recommends using stuffed furry animals as test subjects to get your shooting and PP exactly how you want it! Since most of my dogs are white (we are Maltese Rescue California) I will often use a white stuffed animal to get my exposure EXACTLY where I want it!

Here is one of my shooting set ups with a white stuffed animal as a stand-in for the white dogs I will subsequently shoot. Obviously after a lot of shooting, I have gained experience and no longer need to make test shots for my dog pictures. The ability to shoot and reshoot this stuffed animal aided me in gaining that experience.



I use the stuffed animals for repeatability. You can also use colored stuffed animals outside to replicate colored creatures. Obviously, you would not be carrying around a stuffed animal on a wildlife shoot but, shooting lots of images of the stuffed animal in various lighting conditions can give you a handle of how to manage your exposure.

[chauncey]

After using them for exposure practice, you can tie them on your front bumper...instant road kill.

[GeoBonsai]

Gees! Some of you guys have a complex-borderline-offensive sense of humor when it comes to canines

Thanks to all the excellent advice from helpful CiC forum members, I have learned a lot about how to effectively photograph my little white dogs. For example, now I ensure there's a dark background behind my dog. I increase clarity in post-processing to reduce blowout and to increase texture of my white dog's coat:


Also, I've discovered that Topaz Glow effects work pretty darn good when you want to enhance an otherwise-not-so-good photo of a white dog: