Pups in the studio

[SarahBeth]

I haven't done a whole lot with studio lighting. This was my first time setting up with multiple flashes in a studio setting. C&C please :)

Buck, my sweet, handsome, teddy-bear boy
http://byellis.com/blog/2008_10_29/IMG_7987.jpg

Mandy - my baby girl..
http://byellis.com/blog/2008_10_29/IMG_8019.jpg

Nova .. always so serious when treats are involved!
http://byellis.com/blog/2008_10_29/IMG_8054.jpg

And Luka, who celebrates 3 years since she was adopted by us from the humane society on Monday :)
http://byellis.com/blog/2008_10_29/IMG_7945.jpg

[SamClarkPhotography]

I like them, a lot! Great job with the first one with capturing the detail and sheen of his coat! What color background did you use? Also, how many lights? Any BTS (behind the scenes) photos?

[Chris]

Love the first shot of Buck. The black coat has such a richness to it and the contrast with the eyes is fantastic.

[Zipline]

All excellent shots. I love every one of them. I'd also like to know how you did this. Lighting, background, etc.

[SamClarkPhotography]

Yes, please do share

[SarahBeth]

Thank you all so much! :)

I moved all of the furniture against the walls in our living room and set up the backdrop in front of the fireplace. I had one umbrella set up with a flash on the left corner of the backdrop and another in a soft-box. I also had a flash on my camera (all of these are Canon, two 580EXII's, and one 580EX) with a Gary Fong Lightsphere, and pointed it to the ceiling to bounce.

The backdrop was white, but I know I'm still doing something wrong because it is grey-ish in the pictures. I was going to blow it out in photoshop but I actually liked the way it looked, so I kept it.

This picture was a test I did to see if the flashes were working and it somewhat shows the setup. I had a white blanket on top of the backdrop because I didn't want the dogs shedding all over it and getting it dirty.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/ella0112/setup.jpg

You can sort-of see the umrella on the left, and the soft-box on the right. I shot them with the 24-70L.

[psycorpse]

I'm not expert at lighting either however I believe that you are getting a Grey background because the backdrop has less light on it than the dogs. So when you expose for the dogs the background is probably 1 stop underexposed. Hope that helps.

Just as a note.... If you want the background to be white you would need to have the background overexposed by 1 1/2 to 2 stops, according to articles and you tube videos that I have seen.

[SarahBeth]

Thanks, that does help. I will try that next time!

[Zipline]

Thanks for posting this info. Do you shoot in Av when doing this?

[SarahBeth]

Thanks for posting this info. Do you shoot in Av when doing this?
No problem! I always shoot in Manual : )

[cnhoffma]

All really good shots. The first is clearly the best. The shimmery (but not too much) coat looks great. The last one I like too, but the pupils on the dog are huge.

[Borderfox]

Use levels and set the white point as the background and use the history brush with a selection to paint the dogs original colour back in. First one is a really nice shot, maybe try to get the whole dog in to?

[yonders]

Beautiful pictures and cute pets :).

[Larry Weinman]

The black dog isexceptional. They are very hard to light

[Jon]

Excellent job, on the black Lab especially. Those black coats are such a challenge. Mandy and Nova could have used a tad less though - they look a bit blown out. And yes, adding more light to the background will give you more control over it (as well as adding backlighting to your subjects).

[dingelingyi]

beautiful, all with very nice lighting

[SarahBeth]

Thanks so much for the nice comments and critiques, everyone! I appreciate it : )

All really good shots. The first is clearly the best. The shimmery (but not too much) coat looks great. The last one I like too, but the pupils on the dog are huge.Thanks. About the pupils - her eyes are always like that. Nothing I can do.

Use levels and set the white point as the background and use the history brush with a selection to paint the dogs original colour back in. First one is a really nice shot, maybe try to get the whole dog in to?Yeah, I know I can do it in photoshop, I just didn't want to and wanted to know how I could do it with the lights. I actually liked it with the grey background though : )

I got some full body shots of all the dogs, I just preferred the 3/4 shots. I have a 3/4 shot of Luka as well, I just picked that one to post because my dad wanted it.

[ebondanes]

Beautiful shots. The black Lab is exceptional and you should be very proud of it. I'm betting that you didn't change your exposure for the other dogs, and that is why they are somewhat blown out, particularly Mandy & Nova. I really like the 3/4 body shot, though my fav is a head portrait. Good job and very nice captures. I wouldn't worry so much about the white background being gray/blue. I'm really like it in these shots.

[Clare624]

:) :) :)
Smiling dogs make my day!
Great job.

[Tee Why]

Very nice shots.