How to take a good photo of a black pet?

Black pets have always been a problem for pet photographers. Black pets need different lighting settings and settings to show their fur correctly. If you encounter such a problem when taking pictures of black pets, I suggest you read this content to make it easier for you to take pictures of black pets!

1. Underexposure is to preserve background details.

There is a general rule about exposure in photography. It is safer to make the scene underexposed and then fix it when editing. Shadows restore details more easily than bright highlights. In order to save details, RAW shooting is very important.

It is also suitable for shooting black pets. The exposure meter of a camera usually adjusts the exposure according to the focus position.

If you want to get proper exposure, you must underexpose the photos. This can be achieved by switching to manual mode or using exposure compensation.

You can also enhance the black color in the post-production, which will help you achieve the original fur color of your pet.

2. Pay attention to the light and avoid strong shadows.

When shooting pets, direct sunlight is often a problem, and the light will cast unnecessary dazzling shadows on the pet's face. You must be extra careful when taking pictures of pets. Dark fur means higher contrast in direct light.

Unless you want to shoot dramatic images, you should avoid shooting in strong light.

3. Choose a dark background to reduce bright spots.

The smaller the contrast between the background and the subject, the easier it is to set the exposure value, which will help you avoid losing any part of the picture. You should choose a darker background, and the color is suitable for pets.

Try to take a portrait of a pet with a deeper background and a lighter background, and you will see the difference it brings.

On sunny days, it is usually necessary to deal with the prominent background. Unless you try to take every photo in the shadow, you are bound to encounter a common problem. You can solve this problem by reducing highlights and brightening shadows in post-processing. So shooting in RAW format is very important.

4. Use a flash or reflector to illuminate the black pet.

As we all know, black pets are difficult to be illuminated.

In addition to natural light, no other lighting shall be used. This may mean that you will end up with a portrait with no face at all. In order to illuminate the pet's face, you need to use a fill light.

Backlight can lead to underexposure of the subject. So if you want to keep the details of the pet's face, please illuminate the pet with a flash. However, you need to make sure that the flash is not set too strong and not too close to the dog. Otherwise, the flash may scare the pet.

Alternatively, you can take a reflector and reflect some ambient light back to the pet's face. The silver side of the reflector is the side that uses the most light.

5. Eliminate color cast in post-processing.

When taking pictures of black pets, it is usually a problem for the pet's fur to "pick up" other colors. These colors are usually reflected from the surrounding environment. This is called color cast, which can cause the fur of black pets to have color (usually blue).

Photo editing software can easily remove color cast. In Lightroom, the easiest way is to use selective saturation. You can also use the adjustment brush to reduce the saturation of some parts of the picture.

Make up for dark fur with bright colors

Black itself is not an interesting color, it hardly matches the surrounding environment and adds nothing to the atmosphere of the photo, which is why you must be more creative when shooting black pets.

If you want to make the photos more vivid, you should choose a background that can show at least one bright color.

In nature, the simplest choice is to take green as the main color. Saturated colors will balance monochrome black pet hair. Black fur on a colored background can also produce a contrast effect, which will be pleasing to the eye if handled properly.

If you are trying to find your own style, it is recommended to try various atmospheres until you find the one that suits you best.

7. If the theme is backlight, you can create a silhouette.

Silhouettes are naturally black, and it doesn't matter what color you treat pet hair.

But taking a silhouette with a black pet will have its advantages.

Because your subject is dark at first, you can create a silhouette without underexposing the scene like other pets.