Photographing Brindle Dogs

[Julia Avenell]

Hello - this is my first post submitting photos for comment. I would love some feedback.

Firstly - does anyone have any good tips for photographing brindle dogs? one of my dogs is very dark around the nose / mouth compared to the face. I have trouble getting the detail of his real colours.

Secondly - any tips on photographing dogs with camera phobias?? this same dog keeps running away whenever he spots a camera, even if we're not using it......



thank you!

[Shadowman]

Camera Phobia-first I've heard of it in relation to pets, usually they run towards the camera. Nicely captured, a bit tight on the crop (lower body) but the face is the star in this image so a tighter framing would have been just as appropriate.

Richard (rpcrowe) has a magic touch with animals so look for his posts.

[Julia Avenell]

Thanks Shadowman, for both tips - will look out fro Richard in the forums too, much appreciated.

Yes this same dog feels the same way about umbrellas and brooms....

[Downrigger]

Beautiful colors - on the dog and as rendered by you make for a nice palette. And focus right where it works best. I agree with John on the crop - maybe something more like 4x5 and with a little room for the forepaws.

I dunno about the camera shy issue - treats might do it, over time.

[rpcrowe]

I am looking back on my work to see if I have specifically photographed any brindle dogs and so far have not found any examples. This pup is the closest to brindle that I can find in my library...





This puppy is the closest I come to having an image of a brindle dog. I shot this pup indoors using a hotshoe flash bounced off the ceiling with a Joe Demb Flash Diffuser Pro pointing straight up. I also used a 4 CFL daylight softbox for fill light and a daylight Ott Light on the fleece background. My exposure was 1/60 second using f/4 and an ISO of 160...

I think that you have captured the brindle pretty well. OTOH, it is difficult to capture an dark dog with significant white (like this beautiful dog) and to retain detail in both the dark and white areas...

Outdoors, I would try shooting with a diffused fill flash. I use a on-camera hotshoe flash pointing straight up, modified with a Joe Demb Flash Diffuser Pro pointing towards the subject at a 45 degree angle. I would try something like this and bracket my flash fill until I hit the correct exposure and lighting...

As far as this beauty being camera shy... I have found that the use of high value treats can convince most dogs to be cooperative. I also like someone else holding the dog on a lead (which I crop out) when I am photographing a dog that is not entirely cooperative. A squeaker gets the dogs attention. I use one that looks like this and hold it in my mouth.



I will condition the pooch to expect a treat when it hears the squeak. Operating the squeaker between my teeth ends up with the dog looking intently at the camera. Squeakers like this are available in craft stores pretty inexpensively and are designed to be sewn inside stuffed toys.

[IzzieK]

My squeakers came from some old toys the kids (doggies) wrecked when they were young and still in their teething, pulling stage. Julie, you will find that all of Richard's doggie shots shows good with the paws intact in the photograph. Your brindle is a very beautiful one. I like the colour of it and the way you had posed it. You got most of it pretty well done pat apart from the paws which was cut off partly.

As for umbrellas and brooms, you need to have treats to train him/her (?) when you hold these items. Always have a treat in your pocket for these crucial moments. I have a corgi we are taking care of for my stepson while he is away and he barks at the grinder whenever we bring it out, coffee grinder and my herb grinder. At first I send him outside with our blue heeler so he will be occupied or I shut him off in his crate and have him barking alone there but he did not learn, so lately as soon as I bring out the grinder to grind some flax seeds for the bigger rottenweiler, I call him to me and give him a treat first before I start the grinder...he is getting the idea that it is not something to be scared of...but if he runs away while barking I have hubby to support me with small weenie bittie treats for him. We have a long way to go with this one... yet. He is so hardheaded.

[rpcrowe]

Julia, I agree with Izzie that partially cutting off the paws makes the crop somewhat awkward. However, this beautiful dog has such a powerful face that the partial paw doesn't bother me too much. My attention is directed to those expressive eyes...

Regarding getting detail in the brindle coat. I have found that the structure tool in NIK Viveza does a great job in bringing out the details in dog's coats...



Structure is somewhat akin to Photoshop High Pass Sharpening except that I find it easier to use. Using the structure slider, it is hard to get an artificial looking sharpening...

I also placed a control point around the right eye and lightened that area slightly.

Virtually everything that can be done in with a plug-in like NIK, can usually be accomplished in Photoshop (and often Photoshop Elements) but, it is easier for me to work with the NIK software. The control point system is excellent and the extra bells and whistles like the Viveza Structure Slider are really great to work with...

https://www.google.com/nikcollection/

I have also found that I can do a better job retaining the differences in a dog's coat when I do the original capture in RAW.

[IzzieK]

I still have a lot to know about Nik, Topaz and Perfect Suite... whereas you've mastered these three like nobody's business...when I look at your work, even with a new rescue before the grooming, they all stand out with your PP...I have yet to see an ugly shot from you, Richard...and those lucky dogs -- well, that is another story.

[Julia Avenell]

thank you everyone for all the suggestions - this is my first forum post and I can't believe how generous everyone has been with their advice. Richard, your puppy shots are just terrific and I aspire to produce some great shots like that soon. Mostly I take my pet portraits outdoors with no flash but I am going to practice setting something up with one of my more chilled out dogs. Also thanks for telling me about Viveza I haven't heard of it before. I just had a quick google and it looks good especially if it doesn't involve doing masks which I just can't get the hang of! BTW all our dogs are brindle and white so I'm glad you mentioned it it's tricky with dark and white dogs as I thought it was just me. i need to get some squeakers too. thanks again.

[Mike Buckley]

Welcome to the forum, Julia!

Richard mentioned Nik's Structure tool and High Pass sharpening. Using Local Contrast Enhancement will also have a similar effect in this situation. If you're not familiar with it, look up CiC's excellent tutorial about how and why to use it.

[rpcrowe]

I have yet to see an ugly shot from you, Richard....

Izzie... I dump the ugly shots



And only keep the better ones from a series which I will PP...



Sasha has become our dog. We have adopted her permanently.



I am posting this image to show how bounced flash with a reflector/diffuser will produce catchlights in a dogs eyes. I use a Joe Demb Flash Diffuser Pro and a hotshoe flash camera mounted. The catchlights, IMO, really make a dog's eyes look alive. The bounced flash will also produce highlights in the dog's coat. Bouncing the flash doesn't produce the weird blue-green glow (caused by reflection of direct flash back from the dog's retina) that direct flash produces. It also doesn't bother the dog!

NOTE: I will normally photograph my dogs in the landscape or horizontal format and then crop to a vertical or a square format when needed. Having the original as a horizontal allows me to eventually make this into a calendar shot...

Additionally bounced flash tends not to burn out the white areas of a dogs coat...

Julia, you might try teaming up with someone to assist you when shooting dog portraits. My wife is invaluable and we use a thin lead (shown in the first picture) that I most often clone out. Of course, a bigger dog will require a somewhat more substantial lead...

Virtually all these dog images have been shot using bounced flash. However, there are a few which I did not shoot and which were shot by our organization's volunteers...
http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Pets/MALT...RNIA/i-x9HN2FM

I do generally need to work on the reflections from the colored fleece in the white coats of my dogs, from the , especially under their jaws. I select these areas using control points and reduce the saturation...

[IzzieK]

Lucky Sasha. She is pretty. You won't be sorry I am sure...the first dog here in this series looks like she doesn't want to pose.

[rpcrowe]

Actually Sasha is pretty cooperative. One ear is always up and the other usually down...



We "think" that Sasha is a Jack Russell Terrier + Papillion mix...