This is a shot of my boy, Rowdy (A/C/UCI Int'l Ch Loral's Der Terminator CGC, TT, HIC, TDI) taken to illustrate a brochure that was created for Rowdy's best friend 10-year-old Melanie Leon as part of a school project. I'm sharing it with the forum to demonstrate how easy it is to set up a "studio" in the home with the right lights, a backdrop and enough room to shoot. This was taken in our dining room. Plus, I wanted to share Rowdy with all of you. He is a TDI-certified Therapy Dog who works in schools, hospitals and convalescent homes now that his show career is in the Veterans stages.



Enjoy,

Jim

What a wonderful dog and tribute to the breed! There needs to be more Rotties like this out there. I have had a few bad experiences with aggressive(probably backyard bred) rotties that has left me cautious around them.

I love to see dogs like him out there doing good work. He is a beautiful dog

Beautiful! Rowdy has a gorgeous head. And a herding certificate? Ducks or sheep? What a truly awesome dog. My last 2 dogs, Dane and Doxie, had their herding certs on ducks, really fun.

That picture couldn't be more perfect. Can you tell us just what you used for this set up? Lights, etc? How bid is your dining room? Now you have me excited that I might have room after all in my house. LOL.

Julie,
when we got into Rotties 9 years ago, we understood the responsibility that goes along with that. The more we were around these dogs, the more we loved their intelligence and courage. They can be stubborn. But so can I .

Rowdy is a unique gift. He is truly the sweetest, gentlest, kindest dog of any breed that I've ever known. And I've owned 3 Goldens. He has been the greeter dog at the last 3 AKC/Eukanuba Meet The Breeds booths. He spent this past Easter in an Alzheimers unit of a local convalescent home.

I have shot 4 Rottweiler Nationals and over two dozen Regional and local Specialties over the past 5 years and I've never had a dog do anything but lick my face even when I was placing the sign down right next to his face. In fact, in my entire shooting experience, the only dog that ever bit me (or tried to) was a Jack Russell Terrier. Rotties love me. I think they know I trust and love them. I don't think you can photograph dogs if you don't.

If we get together in Perry, I'll bring Rowdy so you can meet him. I guarantee that you'll fall in love with him.

Jim

Dee Dee,
Thanks for the compliments. I read them to Rowdy and he blushed.

His head is pretty but not magnificent. His body is lovely and he is absolutely correct front and rear with a gorgeous topline. And when he moves in the ring, you just nod your head and say "yup, that's how they're supposed to move". He'll be 8 years old next week and he can still out-move any of the top Rotties in the country. And I'm just a little proud of him

For this photo, taken in what is essentially a 12' by 12' room with a vaulted ceiling, I used two Alien Bees 400 monolights mounted at 45 degree angle to the subject bounced into silver umbrellas. I trigger them with a Morris radio transmitter to cut down on the number of wires to trip over. My backdrops are muslin in various colors both solid and mottled and I have a 12' backdrop stand. Exposure is manual at F8 and 1/200. Original RAW file processed in PhotoShop CS2.

There are a lot of pieces of software out there and most photographers have their favorites. Linda and I started using PhotoShop when it was still version 3.0 for the Mac and we've been using it ever since. After working with a piece of software for over 10 years, you get comfortable with it's capabilities and I think that Adobe has done a pretty good job of keeping it current.

The lighting setup is the same one I use for show formals or people/dog portraits. It's light-weight, portable and predictable. And the Alien Bees even have a battery pack option for use outdoors at Trials which is pretty cool.

Jim

Hey Jim,

Spectacular work with Rowdy. This may seem a silly thought, but have you considered adding a snoot to your light system? It would allow you to really focus the light on the dog's face.

-James

James,
actually, I have a snoot but for this shot, used to illustrate a brochure created for a 10-year-old's school project, Linda vignetted the image and added copy so I needed the entire dog to be lighted.

Frankly, I've found I can produce most of the lighting effects created with light shapers in PhotoShop. And I can preview them before I commit to the final image. The fact that I've been working in PhotoShop for over 10 years helps as does the fact that my wife, Linda, is an expert in PS, Illustrator and Quark.

But there's no doubt that the "spotlight" effect is very nice when you need it.

Thanks for the comment,

Jim

"Frankly, I've found I can produce most of the lighting effects created with light shapers in PhotoShop."

That is interesting. Historically I have avoided these options - not because they are good or bad but because they were in the sections 'unpassed.' There are so many features of PS that I do NOT use and should be experimenting with.

Which ones do you find best?

James

James,
in CS2, the Shadow/Highlight adjustment under the Image menu is very useful. Just be careful not to add too much adjustment especially in the shadow area or you'll get noticeable pixelization.

I like the lighting effects in the Filters section. Experiment and remember to use sparingly. But you can get some nice vignette effects as well as directional lighting effects even with even illumination in the original.

I think that the current version of Smart Sharpen is excellent. I still prefer PhotoKit Sharpener but Smart Sharpen does a nice job without clogging up the edges.

We have an amazing number of requests for adding or removing elements from a photo. The most common is adding in a judge. Since I've shot the judges under the same lighting, it's fairly easy to do by adding them in on an adjustment layer, increasing the transparency and then erasing the parts where you want the background to show through. It takes some time, but it's virtually undetectable. And much easier than cutting out the judge and pasting him/her in.

It's easy to stick with the things you know in your favorite software without trying any of the new bells & whistles that get added into every new version. Spend 30 minutes every week just experimenting with all the filters and actions and see what they can do to make your life a bit easier.

Jim

Thanks for posting your set up info Jim! I am keeping all this on file for the day I finally get caught up on the outdoor equipment I want LOL. Interesting about the photoshop discussion as well. I use the shadow/highlight a lot too (I love that one) it can overdo and make funny colors but I found if I need to, I will bring down the colorization and understaturate it then go into the hue/saturation and bring the sat back up there. It seems to make a more realistic color.

Good thread...and now I know what a snoot is!