Misrepresenting Pigment - Page 2

Yes, a lot of photoshopping and all the ads state "black and red" puppies. Have you noticed that hardly anybody writes black and tan anymore? I can live with the misinterpretation of the color or pigment, but I do have a serious problem with photoshopped toplines.

Here are a couple of our dogs who are truly red (no photoshopping, not even the small white lines our red sable showline male has on his chest, not that anybody ever faulted him for it):

And my (true) black and red Mother-Daughter-Team (also showlines, of course)

I think the best time to take photos of dogs is either early in the morning when the sun just comes up or late afternoon. My photo of the two females was done with the sun still being out (note the shadow and the small pupils). The problem with the sun being out is that the eyes might appear too light. You can also see that in the photos further up in the thread. The first photo of our male was taken maybe half an hour or so later with the sun already down. On automatic setting, the flash was used. You can also see that in the eyes, sigh. I am just not good in taking photos. The worse color to take a photo of is black. There is just no definition in a black coat. This photo was also taken at sunset (note the flash in his eyes). So, maybe I should try that one in bright sunshine. BTW, he just turned only 5 months old and teething, his ear will come back up, lol.

You see - that looks like a real red....some of the pictures - including many taken by proffesionals have an almost unreal look to me - I think that those are the ones that bother me the most.

I understand that some people dont really know how to work with a photograph - but if you know how to saturate then I think you generally know when you are over saturating and when you arent.

With camera issues - it's usually easy to tell then as well because the color does not 'bleed' so much.

lol - it's just something that irks me.

As far as when to take pictures...my best ones usually come out in the late morning-early afternoon times - I tend to like those times because th shadows are minimized.  However early morning would be my second preferance because at false dawn you have alot of natural light with not alot of glare.

~Cate

Cate,

what would you suggest for the black dog then? I could really use some advise. I have tried in bright sunshine and his coat looks "blotchy" where the sun reflects the light. And in sunset, it looks dull and undefined. Ok, granted that he is in a change over right now from puppy coat to adult and still has that puppy fuzz in a lot of places likes his flanks, ears and neck. It drives me crazy that I can't seem to take a good photo of him.

Chris

Chris, wow to that black male of yours. . . can't help myself but gorgeous is what he is.

For the black dog, a slight overcast, when the sun is lower, or in a shaded area out of direct sunlight works best.  This may dull the surrounding saturation, which for a black dog isn't an issue, but improves definition of the subject by reducing contrast.

Ceph, I think you may be confusing "color" with "pigment". Color describes how tan, brown, or red a dog is. Pigment has do with how dark a dog is and reflects the distribution of blackness.

Lousie - That's quite possible - I've heardd the color of the red refered to as both color and pigment before....lol, with my dogs the only thing refered to as pigment is the leather....I am thinking of it as more of the intensity of the red in the coat.  Though if you want to use it from the black standpoint that can also be misrepresented by increasing the contrast of the photo.

Chris - lol, what Daryl said.  I havent photographed many black dogs - the two that I can find were both rescues, one that kind of just showed up and the other that I worked with in rescue...both were a much flatter coat and I think as a result the shine showed through a little more....the first dog I photographed was early in the morning - around 0830 - with light coming of the potomac river and clouds in the sky - the other it was bright afternoon and the shot didnt turn out so well.

Bright days with some cloud cover - preferably when the cloud is covering the sun so you get the light without the glare, mornings, and in shadows :)

~Cate

Lousie - That's quite possible - I've heardd the color of the red refered to as both color and pigment before....lol, with my dogs the only thing refered to as pigment is the leather....I am thinking of it as more of the intensity of the red in the coat.  Though if you want to use it from the black standpoint that can also be misrepresented by increasing the contrast of the photo.

Chris - lol, what Daryl said.  I havent photographed many black dogs - the two that I can find were both rescues, one that kind of just showed up and the other that I worked with in rescue...both were a much flatter coat and I think as a result the shine showed through a little more....the first dog I photographed was early in the morning - around 0830 - with light coming of the potomac river and clouds in the sky - the other it was bright afternoon and the shot didnt turn out so well.

Bright days with some cloud cover - preferably when the cloud is covering the sun so you get the light without the glare, mornings, and in shadows :)

~Cate

damn - the dreaded double click...sorry about that guys.

~Cate

SchHBabe-- i totally agree with you...thats why i wrote -"some are obviously photo shopped"...like that picture you posted........

what i was trying to say was....i can understand "some" off-ness of color when the pic was taken with a cheaper or older camera, (like overall orange or blue tint like mine above- wich the over-all blue actually took away the red and pigment from boss)...but the pics like the one you posted was obviously taken by a high quality camera- there is no way (IMO)...that the color would be off by that much....

the second 'stack' pic above shows the red accuratly on boss, (when the sun is shining on him), but it washes out the black and whites out high points...

silbersee- i think your pics are a great example of  what 'real' would look like...pretty doggies..

the fake pics look like someone accidently boiled their dog along with the crawfish...