I know what you mean. And god forbid if you use a flash!!! You either get horrible red-eye or their eyes look like they're glowing.... almost scary!!!

This is my favorite pic of Cora. We were sitting inside one winter day, after playing outside. My husband & I were on the couch, and Cora was laying on the floor. We had no lights on, and it was an overcast day. The light made it easy to snap a pic with my digital camera, without using a flash:



I got this picture outside. We were at our friends house, on a summer day. Their yard has tons of trees. I have different effects I can use on my camera. This is the sepia effect:



One good thing about black dogs... they take wonderful silhouettes: