Lighting a Small Subject on a Pedestal

i bought the most beautiful pedestal the other day at a great price. I can't wait to use it. I do a lot of pets and mostly I like to capture their personality so to be honest most I do outdoors.

However: I want to use my pedestal to do a some pets indoors. I kind of drew inspiration from this image:
http://www.dennymfg.co​m …e2-4aa4-8c60-f2d4baddb137

I'd guess my Pedestal is a bit wider and 1/2 as tall as this one. But I'd like to use my old master backdrop and be able to use this for a smaller dog, etc.

Currently I have 2 flashes and I'm about to buy 1 einstein and a PLM and Beauty Dish.

Can I light a small subject with 1 light (if it's large enough) or would it look too flat? Would I be better with the 2 flashes? Any thoughts on specifically how an image like this was lit?

Thanks in advance.

I would recommend this book to help with lighting. It is one of the best books to have and study. It has come highly recommended to me by others. I still go back to it and brush up on it.
http://www.amazon.com …hotographic/dp/​0240812255

You can try with one light and use something, reflector, white paper, or white foam core board, on the other side to bounce light onto the opposite side. Or place the stand next to a window during the day and use the single light w/umbrella or softbox for fill on the darker side.

Thank you. I actually have that book buried somewhere, Guess it's time to get it back out. I do seem to learn better by trial and error, which is why I ask.

When indoors I feel I have the most trouble choosing the right size light source. Every time I feel like I must not choose one big enough, Because I just can't seem to get it right.

I don't struggle, I feel like, when I am outdoors using the sun and fill.

abbypanda wrote in post #16789439
Thank you. I actually have that book buried somewhere, Guess it's time to get it back out. I do seem to learn better by trial and error, which is why I ask.

When indoors I feel I have the most trouble choosing the right size light source. Every time I feel like I must not choose one big enough, Because I just can't seem to get it right.

I don't struggle, I feel like, when I am outdoors using the sun and fill.

I had a little trouble when I first started with OCF but am really feeling better with it now. So yes it helps to play around with it and soon you''ll get the hang of it. Have you looked a the Strobist tutorials; http://strobist.blogsp​ot.com …ing-102-introduction.html lots of good stuff there. Keep at it and you find you like it as much as outdoor ambient light.

You are probably going to need a light to separate the subject from the background. Whether you use it as a rim light (dark dog, dark background) or to light the background depends on the color/tones in the dog and how different they are from the background.

I do a lot of pet photography too and I'm looking at getting a couple of einsteins and a couple of ab800s. You might be able to light a single pet with a plm with a back cover. That will give you 180 degrees of light and then you can use a reflector at the base of the pedestal for fill. But now you have to worry about lighting the background so you need a couple of lights on it. For very nice photo, rim lighting is nice so you need yet another light and a hair light can come in handy too. So you end up needing the same lighting you would use in portrait work, about 6 lights.

Thanks guys, and that is particularly where I struggle. I want to invest in more lights but there are just so many different options: in some diagrams I see folks using a separate light for the background, some use 2 to light the background, some none. I admit it's a bit confusing.


Has anyone tried using flash with einsteins? Being I have 2 flashes that may be the route I take. I can't see investing in a lot of strobes b/c to be honest most of my work is outdoors (I think that's where pets shine honestly). But…I want to be able to do a nice standard portrait from time to time. I'm thinking maybe I can get away with a strobe (or 2 down the line) and using my flashes as secondary lights (separation lights, etc).

Thoughts?