Any tips for taking photos of my white dogs?

[GeoBonsai]

I have two mostly white Jack Russell Terriers. They're constantly in motion and because of their white coats, the white balance in my photos of them is always blown out beyond saving in post processing. Taking photos of the pups indoors or outdoors in deep shadow seems to help, but I'd like to get some decent images of them outdoors, in the sunlight.

Any tips for taking photos of my white dogs outdoors in sunlight?

Here's an example image:


Photo made indoors with ambient daylight through sliding-glass door. Lacks coat texture/detail.
Nikon D3300 dSLR > 35mm f/1.8 lens > f/4.5 > 1/60 sec > ISO 1600
Lightroom 5.0 > Saturation 0

[Stagecoach]

Hi Geri,

Whilst the dogs coat appears blown out in the image you have posted a very quick PP in Elements to drop the highlights gives an improvement, recovering much of the detail.

My tips would be,

a) Check your exposure to make sure there is no clipping, using the histogram or blinkies, whatever the lighting situation.

b) Look at your PP procedure because detail can often be recovered/enhanced if not not fully blown out.




Grahame

[Loose Canon]

Geri, white balance and exposure are not the same thing.

Cute pup by the way!

[rpcrowe]

I always shoot in RAW and think that this gives me more leeway in post processing. I will get my white balance in ACR using the white eyedropper and the dog's white coat as the target. When I am shooting other than white dogs, I will often include a WhiBal card in each series of images and use that to balance my whites in ACR.

I generally bounce my hotshoe flash off the ceiling and modify the light with a Joe Demb Flash Diffuser Pro. I shoot with a Canon 7D camera and a 70-200mm f/4L IS lens. My ISO is usually 160, the camera in manual at 1/60 second @ f/4 with the flash in ETTL. I use a variety of flashes including: the old 420EX, the 430EX and the 600EX RT. Sounds strange but for this use I have no particular like or dislike for any of my three full size hotshoe flashes.

Here is a shot of a white Jack Russell Terrier puppy we are fostering..



Here is my smugmug Maltese Rescue California gallery.

http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Pets/MALT...RNIA/i-x9HN2FM

I am in a bit of a quandry at this time because I need to adjust the brilliance of my monitor. I think that it is too bright and have been kind of guessing about the brightness of the images...

Here is an image that I did with White Lightning Studio Strobes and umbrellas:



More can be found at:

http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Pets/MALTESE/i-BHKcRKP

BTW: I find that adjusting the brightness using levels in Photoshop helps.

I don't seem to have problems with blown out whites when shooting my white dogs out doors.

What type of metering do you use? I suggest that for your outdoor shots you try Programmed exposure at an ISO somewhere in the area of 100 to 200. Like I said earlier, I usually have my camera set at ISO 160 which seems to deliver pretty good quality with my Canon 7D. Try auto exposure bracketing at plus and minus 1-stop (to start). Then take a look at the best exposures and decide whether the best exposure is right at what the meter reads or at 1-stop above or below what the meter reads.

[GeoBonsai]

Stagecoach: Excellent post-processing! I can see the shape of his muzzle now!

My attempts at PP never produced such fine results. Looks like in addition to improving my photo skills, I'll have to improve my PP skills too.

The original is a raw (Nikon NEF) image file. Could email the raw file to anyone who wants to see what they'd do with post processing it.

[GeoBonsai]

rpcrowe: Thank you for the tips.

I very much like the defined muzzle and coat texture in your images. I've had much success photographing most of what I point my camera at, but my white dogs are definitely difficult for me to get good results like yours.

[GeoBonsai]

Loose Canon: I've been wondering about "white balance" vs. "exposure". What is the difference? I've google the concepts and have not found an explanation I understand

[Loose Canon]

Have you tried the tutorial offered on this site Geri?

[davidedric]

Hi Geri,

I follow the approach recommended by Joe, an excellent photographer of white birds. He uses exposure compensation to eliminate the clipped highlights (you'll have to experiment, but likely to be around two stops) and then bring the exposure back up in pp. That should get you the detail you need in the coat (or in Joe's case the feathers!)

Dave

P. S. I used to visit a software company in San Leandro called Molecular Design Limited, small world

[IzzieK]

Geri...google the words "exposure triangle" and you will find a lot of information about that subject alone. One of them will suit your understanding...it is an explanation of how ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture works together by adjusting one or the other and even using EV to compensate...watching your blinkies (highlights) disappear while studying this topic will surely give you a better understanding of your camera's capability. You do not have to go our farther than your house to experiment with it either. In my case, I practiced ET at my deck with the sky in view. The sky helps with highlight elimination very much.

[chauncey]

New treatise on exposure...http://www.luminous-landscape.com/es...exposure.shtml

[xpatUSA]

As has been said, recovery from a raw file would work best. With white subjects, luminance contrast in highlights suffers because of gamma correction. By de-gammaring (now there's a word for you) at the top end with Curves, some contrast can be restored by increasing the slope of the curve there, which is the opposite of what gamma does:



Comparison:



A slightly gray appearance is inevitable with this method.

I used FastStone Viewer for this quick demo - images above are screen captures.

[GeoBonsai]

Dave: I worked at Molecular Design Limited for seven years! Stuart Marson hired me back in 1985. I was there when Maxwell bought the company. Kevin Maxwell came out to visit us. I worked on document production, designing and formatting user/admin guides for MDL chemical-research and molecular modeling products, such as MACCS, REACCS, and ISIS. Small world indeed.

[Donald]

Loose Canon: I've been wondering about "white balance" vs. "exposure". What is the difference?

Geri

I'd absolutely recommend that you click on 'Photography Tutorials' tab on the menu bar above and choose 'Concepts & Technology from the drop-down menu.

In there you will find two tutorials:

• Understanding White Balance
• Understanding Camera Exposure: Aperture, ISO & Shutter Speed

Get a grasp of what these are saying and you will have made huge strides forward in developing your photographic knowledge and skills. Ask questions if you're not sure. But don't let the subject go until you feel you really understand these topics. These are the building blocks of good photography. Get these under your belt and your 'cooking-with-gas' as we say say around about here.

[GeoBonsai]

Thank you, everyone. I'll be putting your advice to practice. And I learned two new-to-me, relevant phrases: "black cat in a coal mine" and "white dog in a snow storm"

[pnodrog]

Thank you, everyone. I'll be putting your advice to practice. And I learned two new-to-me, relevant phrases: "black cat in a coal mine" and "white dog in a snow storm"

You will have more of a problem with a white dog in a coal mine or a black cat on snow.....

[CameraWalsh]

You can improve all that type of photo if you keep down the contrast while taking the photo. This would apply to all your picture taking... even if you are scanning negs, it pays to keep contrast way down, so as to get all detail in to your computer. It's then an easy job to process and apply settings you require. Jimmy

[chauncey]

If it gets way too antsy...an hour or so in the fridge should calm him down a tad.

[IzzieK]

If it gets way too antsy...an hour or so in the fridge should calm him down a tad.

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

[pnodrog]

If it gets way too antsy...an hour or so in the fridge should calm him down a tad.

Careful - may end up with a husky bark....