It's so hard to take good pictures of Peanuts and Chooey together because Peanuts will turn her head away from the flash of the camera. Although I perfectly understand that it must be such an annoyance having a super bright white light flashing in front of you, I regret not being able to take good pictures of all the ruckus going inside the house.
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| See what I mean about Peanuts turning away from the camera every time she sees the "red dot". |
Any suggestions on how to make the camera flash less annoying?
Unless you are using a digital SLR with a mounted flash that you can direct up and away...so bounce the light...no. Sorry : ( It's always ALL about the light. Natural light is best, but hard to come by. Still...your shot looks great! : )
ReplyDeletexo Katie & Glogirly
Thank you. That's one out of the 5 pictures I took. Our house doesn't have windows facing the sun and there's an on going construction across one of the windows which receives most of the light. :(
DeleteWhat an adorable picture of them both, they look so comfy together.
ReplyDeleteI think all our pets regret the day blogging came into existance, LOL.
Lynne x
Yes, this is quite true.
DeleteHaha, they are soooo cute! Even if they are not both looking at the camera. Maybe if you hold up a treat or a toy for them at the same time you take the pic it will work! ;)
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteMy personal "photographer" says that pets and flashes dont mix. He says he never uses flash but tries to go for as much natural light as possible. Daylight through windows is great (especially for photographing food - http://foodloversdiary.com - that is his food site).
He also says to remember that post-processing tools are very powerful now, even if you cant afford Photoshop. If you have to take photos at night, get as many lights on as you can, then take the photo without flash - you may have to hold very still.
Then either use a program like The Gimp (Which is free), or an online one like http://pixlr.com/editor/.
You will need to do three main things:
First, change the white balance to make the image "colder" - You may need to cheat and just change the colour balance to remove red and add blue, depending on the program you use.
Then you will need to brighten the image and play around with the contrast a little.
Finally, your image will be quite noisy, so play with the noise reduction Luminence - it will soften the picture, but that can be quite nice with furry subjects.
If with your camera you really have to use flash, I suggest you take something like a bit of tracing paper and stick it across the flash. That will act as a diffuser and make the light less sharp - you will probably have to brighten the image a little afterwards.
Any of that help?
Pebbles (The photo assistant!)
LOL. I actually did something about the red dot. I put a piece of electrical tape on it so that it doesn't show up anymore. Then I changed the setting from Smart Flash to regular Flash. There was a difference between the two. Peanuts doesn't mind the regular flash that much since it isn't as blindingly annoying
DeleteI have Photoshop but I haven't tried playing with luminence. I have done some contrasting, brightness and color toning but it's quite some work.
I also did the tracing paper thing, the smart flash was still blinding.
Thank you for your advice. I will try the picture editing more often.
I try to turn of the flash when I photograph my pets, but I do have some issues with my pictures being too dark. I want to get a camera with a mounted flash but they are a bit pricey. Your pic looks very cute though
ReplyDeleteurban hounds
I try not to use a flash, and I even bought a lens that works in low light. One of my dogs still thinks the flashy thing is going to get him. I have many pictures of him looking like Peanut.
ReplyDeleteWEll, I am not afraid of the flashy light but I find it and My Vickie very annoying some time. Bert, sit here. bert, look this way.
ReplyDeleteBert, Flash, Bert, Flaxh CRAZY
Even though she looked away, it is still a great picture!!!
ReplyDelete~Higgins
My mom never uses the flash - only natural light! That is still a very cute picture!
ReplyDeleteStewey
I never use the flash with Nola, she's was too shiny! Natural light is always best, and I don't know what kind of camera you have, but a thin piece of white cloth over the flash can help in some cases
ReplyDeleteNola's Mom
P.S. I'm between 16 and 25 years old :D
Seriously, you expect us to believe that you're 16 years old? ^^ LOL!
DeleteI changed the setting of the flash and give Peanuts lots of hugs and pats and "good girl"s whenever I take a good picture of them. We don't have dog parks or places to go except here and our house isn't well lighted so I do have hard time taking pretty shots.
How I wish my camera had the capacity of my eyes. Peanuts and Chooey love playing at night- especially when it's really late like 12 am or 2 am. These dogs are more like owls if you ask me.
When the brilliant Glogirly mentioned digital SLR with a mounted flash, our collective eyes glazed over!!! But I do try to use the pet portrait setting on my Nikon and get as much natural light as possible!!
ReplyDeleteHow I wish I had a DSLR of my own. Unfortunately I only have an ancient Gateway 5MP camera which I fixed from my mom's junk. I have a video camera but it takes awful pictures.
DeleteIt's tough getting used to the paparazzi! LOL!
ReplyDeletePhantom doesn't like the flash either. But he doesn't even like the camera without a flash:( We think this pic is really very cute. Have you tried doing outside pics instead? And some really tasty treats?
ReplyDeleteWoos - Phantom, Thunder, Ciara, and Lightning
You have taken a great action shot!
ReplyDeleteOur camera is too slow to capture any movement,
love
tweedles
I think Chooey hates it too
ReplyDeleteshes like "what is that bright light... IS GOD TAKING ME ALREADY!!!"
I think most dogs turn their heads as a calming signal - they're worried by the camera. :)
ReplyDeleteAwwwww..... I know the feeling! I've been trying to get a shot of Rumpy standing in the doorway for weeks now... no luck yet.
ReplyDeleteNot the flash monster! When we were all pups mum associate the flash with yummy treats so we are kind of expecting it to go off in our faces. Poor Peanuts though, we can understand!
ReplyDeleteLove the picture though!
Slobbers
We try not to use flash if at all possible. But seriously, Haopee ... your shot of Peanuts and Chooey is ADORABLE! :)
ReplyDeleteI don't use flash on animals because I know how blinding that can be for them so I make sure as many lights as possible are on (if night), up the ISO (sometimes i go to the highest!) and slow down the shutter speed as far as you can although that can cause motion blur. It certainly helps to shoot under strong sunshine.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't use natural light we don't know of any other suggestions. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteNubbin wiggles,
Oskar
I prefer not to use the flash. Just turn on a bunch of lights and check your camera settings for an indoor setting.
ReplyDeleteDon't fret for a moment! This shot looks GREAT! It captures the bond and sharing and spirit in a natural way.
ReplyDelete