studio lights, round 1

[adina]

okay, here we go...

light is to my right, about shoulder high for her. I do have a reflector I'd like to use with this, but she's got rocks in her head and I was trying to keep it as simple as possible. Just sitting was a feat in itself. I need to pull everything farther away from the backdrop...have this in my living room tonight, which is long and narrow, I was set up the narrow way, we just ran out of room.

Will be torturing the girls tomorrow....unfortunately for me (fortunate for them) they had already gone to bed when I decided to do this.

working on a laptop, so not sure how everything looks on the regular monitor...will be on that one tomorrow.

[adina]

let me also mention that after everyone sneaked her niblets yesterday, this poor dog has gas like you would not believe. That played a big factor in how much I wanted to manuver her.

[Asylum Steve]

this poor dog has gas like you would not believe. That played a big factor in how much I wanted to manuver her...

I have this problem with fashion models all the time. Must be all those salads they eat...

The shots look good...

[adina]

thanks!

feel free to hurt my feelings and crush my spirit, I need to not look like an ass when I do this project in January.

[MJS]

Nice job. Are you shooting heads, 3/4 or full body shots? What color background? How many people in the shots? There is a pretty good guide in the book stores from the publishers of photo technique called Essential Lighting techniques, a pro guide to photographic lighting. It pretty much boils down about 8 different books that I have into a very nice guide. I think you'll find it very helpful. I use a 48" octobox for head and 2/3 bod shots, switching to white umbrellas when needed. I've got the large softbox described in your other post coming with a pair of 60" umbrellas for versatility.

You can get away with a 52" reflector for full length shots, 42" for 2/3 and a 32" for head shots. What lens you using. 85mm or more f/8-10, with the person 4-6 feet off the background will do well. 50 - 70 and I'd stick with f/5.6 - 8 to blur out the background. Some type of backlight might be needed, dark BG may require a hairlight to seperate the subject off the BG, or you could hit the BG to bright it up a bit. I use my pocket flashes as BG lights or put them on a boom in a small softbox to light a single head and shoulder when needed.

Overall, I think you did a really good job. It's tough to get people to sit for you while you are working on different schemes.

[adina]

Forgot where I posted this...

I'll be shooting 3/4's, not sure on the background yet, I've played with the red, I've got a roll of white paper as well, left over from a previous project. I'd love to be able to use black, but they will be in black clothing as well, and while I could probably use a hairlight, I don't want to complicate things too much.

I've got a reflector too, it's about 4'x6' as well. When I'm actually doing this in Jan I'll have enough room to pull them further from the drop. I don't want to have to use more than one light....love to keep it as simple as possible.

[Asylum Steve]

I don't want to have to use more than one light....love to keep it as simple as possible...

Sounds like a plan. How many dogs are you going to be photographing???

[MJS]

Being she's in the frozen north and shooting with a 4 x 6 Larson, I'd say about a whole sled team worth.

[brhitch]

Nice images adina. Cute dog. What color and what type of background is that you are using. I really like the look it gives you. I think your simple setup works well for what you are planning on doing.