News & Events in the World of Photography, Printing and Design

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Photographing Black Cats (or anything black for that matter).

10th Jan 2009

Feline photography is challenging, but black cats more so why?, because of the way light is absorbed and reflects off their fur, and because cameras, however clever have difficulty choosing the right exposure for very light, or in this case, dark subjects.

When in comes to black cats however, whilst they present opportunities for the photographer to capture an excellent picture, they also offer a challenge, as unlike dogs, cats won’t obey commands "sit" or "stay." There is also the problem that cats in many instances have to be photographed indoors, a big problem as although deal as an outdoor photograph in natural sunlight, photographing them indoors is a totally different matter as then you have to rely on (in most cases) the cameras flash, which again can cause problems on the exposure front.

Many leave the camera set on auto, but when the flash goes off to it tries to brighten that mass of darkness (the black cat), the result often being a bright solid black cat, but all the detail is simply 'lost'. There are many ways of using Flash to light a subject that are less harsh, one way might be to have the flash bounce of a lighter surface and then onto the cat.

For more details on how to take that picture of your favourite moggy ( and much more please visit )

Photography Techniques website

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