I finally took some pictures of my puppy...

[alexchern75]

Meet Hedi, we got her 2 weeks ago, this is a follow up on my previous thread:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=618956

Come to find out that my puppy is a huge pain when it comes to studio work...I will have to work on that.
I also noticed that I used too large of an aperture for a puppy, she was very difficult to keep in focus, and ISO 250 was the highest I wanted to go. Next time I will have to give her less coffee. With her running around it was very difficult to maintain a good crop, hence the shorter tail, lol either way, check them out...and the outtakes too :)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3123/3226529053_25fb8634d9.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/3226528745_676e4be6a2.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3471/3226528327_d74fa4f915_b.jpg

[theduck365]

She is a cute puppy. I like the picture, the background and her go together very well. I have spent the past few days trying to Photograph a friend's dog for him, and I am still trying to get there perfect shot.

[alexchern75]

Good luck if the dog is anywhere as active as she was it will be a workout. model photography is easy compared to this. :)

[twiggles]

Great Pics, I really enjoy the contact sheet...nice

[alexchern75]

Thanks, I figured that it would help tell the story :P

[alexchern75]

One more, this one was a bit out of focus, but it's so cute :)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3519/3226943413_e21c1653fa.jpg

[Lonnie]

That background is perfect for this dog. Good shots - the only thing I'd like to see is a little more DOF if possible. I don't know what your lighting setup is though. Thanks for sharing - nice pup.

[alexchern75]

thanks, yes its most definitely possible as i mentioned above my aperture was way too large f/1.8, it also made it even more difficult to keep the fast girl focused because it was so shallow...totally my fault :) i should have used my usual 2.8 portrait lens, but i had my heart set on dusting off the old 50mm.

[readysetgocapture]

One more, this one was a bit out of focus, but it's so cute :)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3519/3226943413_e21c1653fa.jpg
funny you should add this one, when i was looking at the "out takes" this is the one i wanted to see bigger, great shots:)

[Metalstrm]

^Same here Alex. That is a great portrait and a cute one. If only she was in focus!

[alexchern75]

I wish it was too, if you go much bigger than that then the flaw is obvious. That kind of image or moment is hard to recreate.

[Flo]

Good for you keeping it fun! Gorgeous pup.and I love that drop sheet.
Look forward to seeing more of this kind of session!

[816_Studios_Inc]

Love the pics.

[alexchern75]

Thanks :) I do have to spend more time with her in the studio so she's not as antsy during shoots :)

[poloman]

Are you using hot lights?
Strobes would help your efforts a lot. They will give you much greater ability to freeze the action. You can use AI servo which will help your focusing efforts.
I shoot puppies for a no kill shelter. It is one of the toughest types of shooting I have ever done.

[alexchern75]

yes I'm using hot lights, 2 1000 watt soft boxes and a few smaller ones for details. I agree strobes would work better for that, but since I usually don't shoot as many puppies I will keep using those for a while as they seem to work very well for everything else.
I switched to servo towards the end and it did help quite a bit, unfortunately it had a hard time tracking her as she was cruising under bikes, and boxes, lol.

[howaboutnow]

OMG so cute!!!

[alexchern75]

thank you, she has already grown a bunch in just a few week since we got her. if anyone is interested theres a few other cute shots of her on my myspace link. we rescued her from arkansas she had a long plane ride to cali, but shes glad to be here :)
i may be able to link one of the other shots in myspace to here from there:

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/50/l_f5f8ccc418ff4f7291efcf81253c12ac.jpg

It worked! I called this one: "Checking out some tail"

[Jpiano]

Great shots!

[Grimlock]

Fantastic shots!

BTW: That's probably the best BG I've ever seen. Great colors!

[Walczak Photo]

Not to over-state the obvious here, but MOST puppies are going to be a pain to shoot, studio or otherwise. Puppies (and kittens) are typically very difficult to shoot in any conditions as they seem to have only two speeds, "stop" and "go". Also at this age, they don't usually know their "commands" very well such as "sit", "stay", "stop chewing on my camera cable!", etc.. My first suggestion is to try and time your shoot around the pups schedule...have everything setup and ready to go and then get the puppy playing until you have her almost worn out. Depending on her age, this usually takes about an hour or so. You'll have a very brief window there between play and nap time and it's been my experience that's usually the best time to try and grab some nice shots (studio or otherwise).

Secondly, since I don't know what camera you are using, I don't know your ISO potential there but personally I'd bite the bullet and bump that up to go for the greater DOF. Again just my own personal experience here but I find that it's MUCH easier to clean up a little bit of noise from a higher ISO than it is to try and correct for too shallow of a DOF or an oof image. A lot of folks really seem to get a stick up their butts about this issue, but ISO noise (IMHO) is a relatively easy fix now a days. Maybe it's just a perspective issue but I always found that ISO 800 or even ISO 1600 on most DSLRs always does FAR better than anything I was ever able to do in my film days. Unless you are shooting for something like the latest Petsmart billboard or something where you're going to need a MASSIVE blowup, if you're shooting with something like a 40D then there's no reason at all to avoid the higher ISO's. She's a really cute pup and that second shot with her paw up would have been a really great shot if the paw hadn't of been so blurred...to me that blur just blows the shot completely.

Puppies and kittens are certainly a challenge, but I find that you can get really amazing shots if you are willing to be patient and willing to compromise a bit. You simply can't force a puppy to co-operate with you...it's just not going to happen. You'll get better shots if you are simply willing to work with her on -her- terms :D.

Just my $.02 worth as always,
Jim

[alexchern75]

Hey Jim, thanks for your post, it sounds like we should take the same approach with puppies that is recommended for toddlers, lol. yes, I shoot with a 40D I believe that I didn't go much above iso 200 for this one

[dtanuwid]

Nice pictures... If only we can get the dog to sit still long enough to get better DOF of the dog. It seems like you are focusing on the face of the dog and the rest of the body is a bit blurry... Or is it just my eye? :D

[camerageorge]

Nice photos :)

[MacBailey]

I think you have captured some very good shots. Puppies are hard and I find cats even worse. I have shot animals for years and when I had my studio I did an annual shoot with the Humane shelter for a fund raiser for them. One thing that can help is have a few devices that make different noises that will get their attention. I have found that some dogs will respond a couple of times but when they figure out that when they respond to the sound they get a big flash in their face they will ignore you. They are not so dumb. Be patient and try things that get their attention. Even a long feather duster where you can tap them on the tip of the nose to get their attention.

Good luck and you did well here.

[poloman]

DOF is why you should consider strobes. You could be shooting at ISO 100 f8 with a shutter speed of 1/200. The higher shutter speed will keep ambient light to a minimum. That means your strobes will freeze the action for you.

[jhuse]

Like the pics all very nice! Im curious as to what backdrop you are using and where you purchased it or what brand it is.....thanks jeremy

[alexchern75]

Ebay! lol :)
Its a beautiful cheappy:
http://cgi.ebay.com/10X20-Mottled-Painted-BACKDROP-Muslin-Photo-BACKGROUND_W0QQitemZ310113313180QQihZ021QQcategory Z30079QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

[jhuse]

thats awesome and thanks!!

[dgpilot]

Adorable, thats really a nice setup, congrats on the nice shot!