Why Do People Think Black Animals Are Hard to Photograph?

But seriously...why do people think black animals are hard to photograph, because I don't get it.

I talked about this briefly in another blog called, "We're Failing Black Animals in Shelters;" however, I feel there's more to be said on this topic.

To me, black animals aren't hard to photograph. You just add a little bit more light (hot shoe flash, strobes, or continuous lights) or take them outside, and BAM! Problem fixed.  

The only time I've ever had a problem is when I'm trying to take a photo of my cat, Hickory, on my cell phone and the lighting is bad. Sometimes they end up looking like this...

I can see how people who only use their cell phones to photograph their pets think taking photos of black animals is hard...but photographers...not so much.

For me, photographing white dogs outside is more difficult than any black animal would ever be. White animals are extremely easy to overexpose, so I've learned to just underexpose the image and soften the darker shadows on the pup in post-production (I like my backgrounds darker anyways). 

But I never see this as a complaint for other people.

I did a Google search of "are black animals more difficult to photograph" and "are white animals more difficult to photograph." The results were...interesting.

For the black animal search, I got so many articles on tips for photographing them with quotes saying: "No matter how hard you try, they end up looking like a black blob" and an article labeled "Pets with Black Fur: Why Don't You Look Good on Social Media."

...It's ridiculous people are so tied up in social media that this article was in the first page of my search.

However, for the white animal search, one article said to underexposure the image slightly...and that's it...the other articles talk about pet photography in general or black animals.

To me, this doesn't make sense, if you underexpose the image slightly for white animals, doesn't it make sense to just add more lighting or slightly overexpose the black animal images. Not to the point of overexposing parts of your images and never getting them back, but just enough so they don't "end up looking like a black blob."

...so technically, black animals are just as easy to photograph as white animals or any other color of animal. You just have to adjust the settings on your camera or add a little bit more lighting, like you would with any other animal in different lighting situations.  

I don't have a clever ending to this one...so here's a photo of a cute dog instead.