Tips for Photographing Black Dogs

At luvmutt.com, we receive a lot of submissions of very adorable black dogs. Unfortunately, we’re unable to feature many of these dogs because the photographs are not clear.

It is notoriously hard to photograph black dogs. They often come out looking like shadows, indistinguishable from the background, and their facial features practically disappear. The problem is almost always with the lighting.

The following is advice will help you take better photos of your black dog:

Black dogs are best photographed outside. Ideally, the weather should be overcast to avoid harsh sunlight. Your photos will also come out better if you take them in the morning or early evening, when the sun is lower in the sky. You want the light source (the sun if you’re outside) to be on the side of your dog, not in front or behind.

If you are photographing indoors, a black dog will photograph best in light-colored surroundings. A black dog on a black couch may look adorable in person, but the dog will be practically invisible in the photo.

You also don’t want to have the dog directly in front of a wall, because the flash from the camera will bounce back and create a big shadow. You do want to make sure the room is as bright as possible to begin with. Your dog may look very cute curled up on your bed at night, but if the lights are too dim, the flash will wash out the whole picture, and it will cause red eye.

If nothing else, you will definitely notice an improvement in your dog’s photos just from shooting them outdoors. Your dog will probably enjoy the photo shoot more, too!

Good luck and be sure to send us your best shots so we can feature more black dogs on luvmutt.com! (Send photos to submissions@luvmutt.com.)

Comments

[Kristi]

Thank you for including a picture of my dog with your article. Great tips on photographing dogs I do find it much easier to take pictures of him outside.
Thanks