"Spike" the dawg

[schrackman]

I've been messing around with making my own backdrop and playing with my poor man's 2- tungsten light setup, and found myself another victim, er, subject–my 1 year old German/Australian Shepherd mix.

I also tried to shoot my big fat Labrador/Shepherd mix, Peter, but he wasn't as cooperative as Spike.

Canon DRebel & EF 50mm f/1.8.
Settings were f/2.2 @ 1/50th
Shot in RAW, changed color temp to 3200 and added +0.02 exposure, and slight PS adjustments to correct the color of the backdrop.

[walterick]

Nice job Ray! It's nice to see what a cheap, basic setup can give you! I am planning on doing something very similar in my homemade studio, so this is nice to see.

Just some quick feedback, it looks a little bluish to me, you might find a slightly warmer tone by playing with PS. On my screen at least.

Good work!

[schrackman]

Thanks Rick!

Keep in mind that I'm on a Mac. I don't see bluish, except the backdrop of course. But Spike's color is pretty much spot on when I look at it on my monitor.

But here's one of the above pics saved with a PC gamma of 1.2 and saved as a .gif. Tell me if looks any better on your monitor. It looks a bit washed out on mine.

[WsW-WYATT-EARP]

i like the original posts better than the "corrected" one ... like you said it looks a bit washed out ... especially the blacks

what technique did you use to make the backdrop ?

[schrackman]

Thanks Ben. Yes, the original is better IMO too..

What I did was go to Wal-Mart and buy natural cotton muslin, 90" wide. Unfortunately all they had was 3 yards of it. So I took it cuz I need it for tomorrow. But ideally one needs about 5 yards of it.

I also bought Rit Navy Blue dye. I filled a large metal pail full of hot water from the tub, mixed in a cup of salt (don't ask me why they tell you to do this...I'm sure there's a reason), and then poured the entire bottle into the pail and mixed with a stick. I then put the muslin in the washer (no soap, just plain water) and washed it on the short cycle. Took it out, then bunched up the muslin as I wanted a mottled look, not a solid color. Set it in the pail of dye slowly and did not agitate it. I just let it soak for about an hour and then rinsed out all the excess dye with cold water in the tub. I then put it back in the washer machine with a bit of soap on cold cycle to wash out any residue. After taking it out, be sure to do empty load in your washer with cold water, a bit of laundry soap and bleach. The only thing left is to let the backdrop hang dry.

And that's it.

i like the original posts better than the "corrected" one ... like you said it looks a bit washed out ... especially the blacks

what technique did you use to make the backdrop ?

[Old Timer]

Nice job on Spike. He must me one cooperative dog. My daughter had a whale of a time getting her dog to sit for their Christmas picture. Good to see budget setups work so well. Thanks for the post and the explanation.

[I_Fly]

Wow Ray those are nice. I, too, like the first ones you posted, the adjusted one looks washed out on my monitor. I wish I could get any of my three dogs to sit still for a portrait like that.

And thanks for the explanation of the homemade backdrop. I may have to try that myself.

[schrackman]

Thanks OT and Troy.

OT, no Spike is not cooperative, just more cooperative than Peter, lol.

I was actually surprised how these two photos came out. Didn't think my tungsten bulbs would produce something this decent. So long as I shoot in RAW, though, I can control it. I did have to put a few sheets over the lights, however, to diffuse the light coming out. That seemed to have helped.

[schrackman]

I thought I would repost a new shot after having received my two new 30" Photoflex shoot through umbrellas. I set them up on the two BB-50 strobes. This was just a quick picture, didn't really take time to set the lights properly. I just wanted to see the difference between the silver lined reflectors and the shoot throughs. The light is noticebly softer and cooler than the previous shot.

[yogestee]

Nice looking dog schrackman...German Shepherd/Kelpie X???

Jurgen

[Ridgetop]

Wow, came out very good. Love the expression. Great lighting.

[Ronnoco]

Better than the corporate portrait and the eyes are brighter too... ... I would suggest better framing by cropping at the chest area of the dog.

Ronnoco