I am probably going to cringe at the critiquing, but I would like some honest comments on how I did last night.

I finally got to get out of the house last night and do a photo shoot with two Australian Shepherds. It was a LOT more challenging than I had anticipated. I had brought my Alien Bee, Softbox, 5 in 1 reflector, 2 backdrops and their stands. I ended up not using the reflectors at all, it was too crowded and chaos was starting to reign. The dogs were excited to see me and the owner who was originally going to hold the reflectors had her hands full with keeping the dogs still. I was there about 1-1/2 hours, but that included setup and take down along with a water break for the dogs. (and sanity break for me!)








The rest of the photos I took can be found here:
http://wagsandwhiskers.smugmug.com/gallery/13696017_uaciz/#1000930688_jrfNZ

Thanks everybody!

Looks nice. Good job with the red BG too. Red is tough for digital sensors.

I really like the two head shots. Very nice.

In looking at your Smugmug gallery I would suggest a rule of thumb in doing more than one animal is to put the darkest one closest to the light.

Thanks Jim, I really like that red. I was thinking Christmas shots with it.

Thanks Preston. I had the darker dog first, but he is larger and just towered over the other one. I'll try that with him laying in front, and the other one in back sitting. Thank you for the suggestion.

The really funny thing is that I had already seen one of those head shots. Turns out that the owner is on my FB friends list and I got the "so-and-so and a billion others" changed their profile picture notice.

Watching the rest of the photos pop up in my feed as they are being tagged.

LOL! FB is a small world isn't it? So is agility! I do like the pic she changed her profile pic to. It was my favorite.

Penny,
these are very nice. I think you did an outstanding job, especially with one light. Sometimes it's hard to get the light wrap with one but these look good. Oh, BTW, I love the background. It works great with these Aussies.

Jim

Thank you Jim.

When going to client's homes, should I attempt to set up 2 lights and softboxes? I only have one softbox and a shoot through umbrella, but the shoot through is a hot light, so I have no way of dialing down the wattage. At the moment I just can't afford another SB and AB.

I worry about not having enough room in homes to set up for a full shoot, so I have been concentrating on perfecting shots with only one light.

When I was doing only in home or on location, I set up 2-3 AB's. You learn to get creative and you also learn to insist on a certain amount of space. (Garages work nicely)

One light will certainly work, and one light and a reflector isn't a bad option if you have a stand for the reflector.

You probably don't want to mix your AB with a hot light. The AB puts out so much more power that the hot light will pretty much not figure into the equation, and when it does, it won't match the AB in terms of color temp or quality.

Thanks for the info Jim, that is what I was thinking about the lighting. I appreciate you confirming it.