How do I photograph white dogs in snow?

<p>Got a little snow fall last, went out with D2H and 28 f/2.8D lens to photoraph my dogs playing in the snow. I dialed in +1.3 to overexpose for the snow and everything looks great except the dogs almost blend into the snow. How can I make them stand out or is this a limitation of snow and white animals?</p>

<p>Hi Mark, did you blow the highlights? If not, you can adjust the exposure in post and the photos will probably be fine. However, +1.3EV in exposure compensation seems to be too much. I can't use that much with my D300.</p>

<p>Spray the dogs with black paint :-)</p>

<p>I think I'd probably do only close-ups (dogs filling over 50% of the frame) where there is some differentiation in texture, eye color, ear and finer hairs.</p>

<p>Yes, the dogs are going to get lost in the background - it's not an exposure issue as such. In the snow today, my OMD needed +1 ev and that was underexposing a little - +1.3 would have been better.</p>

<p>Wait for some low side-lit sun to bring out the form and texture of the dogs, or provide your own modelling by setting a flash up to one side of the dogs (out of shot, naturally). You'll need to nearly overpower the ambient light with the flash, so maybe wait until near dusk or just after dawn.</p>

<p>To just meter for the snow, take a reading off a piece of white paper at the subject position, filling the frame with the paper. Then open up by 2.5 stops from the paper reading. This is the same as taking an 18% grey card reading, or using a handheld incident meter. Why not just use the snow? You could, but a piece of paper is easier to get at the right angle, facing the intended camera position. Snow also varies in reflectance depending on whether it's freshly fallen, powder or glaciated etc.</p>

<p>Try to avoid shooting when the sun is harshest. Shoot in RAW for post corrections and maybe dial down the compensation a bit. A bit of bracketing next time should help you find the right settings. Even white dogs have some definition, eyes, ears, paws, mouth and some shadow within their fur. Your shooting position can help, too. Try getting down a bit lower, maybe kneeling to change the angles. </p>

<p>That sounds like a little too much compensation to me. I would expect about +2/3 to +1 stop.</p>

<p>I forgot to mention the color temperature. It might make the difference you need to make the dogs stand out from the snow. My photos of dogs in sunlit snow need circa 6000K to 8000K in color temperature.</p>

<p>I usually switch to manual, take a test shot or two, and use the "blinky" display to adjust exposure to one click (1/3 stop) under the point where the snow is clipping.</p>

<p>Agree with the others, look for side lighting that provides some shadow.</p>

<p>Practice with an egg and white paper. It's a common assignment in Photography 101 classes.</p>

<p>+1 for Dan Brown.<br>

White on white is about creating form with shadows.<br>

Exposure is not the issue, just set it manually with the spot meter showing +2 EV or so on the snow. </p>

<p><strong>Practice with an egg and white paper.</strong><br>

<strong> </strong><br>

Scrambled or fried?<strong><br /></strong></p>

<p>Have the dogs standing in the snow, get low and shoot them against a darker background ie. treeline, building etc. I have two white dogs and had plenty of fun and practice shooting them.</p>

<p>When the light is nice and gentle, try center-weighted metering, focus on the dogs (duh!). No matter how white they are, the dogs usually look a little creamy against the snow. Good luck!</p>

<p>Thanks for all the suggestions. The snow is almost gone so next time I'll try the many suggestions. I'll get out either my 180 or Sigma 70-200 to better isolate the dogs. Will also shoot in manual mode instead of aperture mode and experiment a little. Dan, I took Photo I and II plus a couple of advanced classes in college and don't remember anything about the "egg and white paper". I'll have to try that and fine tune my skills.</p>

<p>OK, now I have this black cat and a dark room....</p>

<p><< now I have this black cat and a dark room....>></p>

<p>It will be spectacular if you just capture the eyes! :-)</p>

<p>The D2H histogram is practically useless for ETR (expose to the right) techniques. It shows only one channel (green, if memory serves) and will mislead us toward clipped highlights that can't be recovered in extreme situations, even with raw files.</p>

<p>Dialing in +1.3 EV exposure compensation sounds about right.</p>

<p>Beyond that, just wait for better lighting. It's all about light and shadow to provide modeling so the viewer can readily distinguish between white dog and snow. It's not much more complicated than that.</p>

<p>But if you want or need to make it more complicated...</p>

<p>Let's say you have no choice about the lighting. No modeling of light and shadow to separate subject from background. You can still differentiate between "white" and "white". Snow will virtually always reflect the hue of the predominant surroundings - typically blue under open skies, greenish-blue under heavy foliage.</p>

<p>Animals with white coats are rarely pure white. Usually there's a warmish tinge. Add to that the D2H's tendency to exaggerate near IR and fur, fabrics and other materials will appear slightly "warm". You can fairly easily use selective brush tools (such as in Lightroom) to provide a natural off-white to the dog which will be subtly discernibly different from the white snow.</p>

<p>But be careful not to clip the highlights, otherwise it'll be impossible to differentiate in post the snow-white and fur-white. So don't rely too much on ETR with the D2H.</p>

<p>+2 for Dan Brown. But this is starting to crack me up, LOL.</p>

<p>Snow scenes, and white dogs, will seriously confuse the camera's metering. It's objective is to render the majority of the scene medium grey, but the majority of the scene is actually near-white. Either exposure comp of +2 stops, or manually set exposure, with similar "overexposure", is needed.</p>