Here are a few from a greyhound rescue event I attended. Broke a compositional rule with the one with the bandana, but made it for notecards - pleased with the outcome. As usual, the D200, this time with the 70-200. Instead of two small softboxes, I only used one as the key, with a white umbrella as fill. Speedlights fired fine. Note the white dog - needed a lot less light, so the background is darker.

These are great, with the first being my favorite. I am going to have to pull out my brown backdrop

Hey Chris,

These are quite nice...don't worry about the bandana. I am glad to see you doing this kind of thing...very cool indeed. I was just in touch with the Briarcliff shelter the other day (in Westchester) and have been offering my services as well.

James

Julie, I enjoyed quite a bit of angst in deciding what color to setup for this, and was really happy to see the combo worked. I almost went with red...!

James, there's nothing more rewarding than seeing the big-hearted rescue endorsers love the heck out of their dogs...really a good time, and a great way to spend time.

Chris,

Are you using speedlights for this? If so, how are you getting the backlight? I really like the affect, but have a dickens of a time getting my Canon IR lights to fire off in this way.

James

James, yup - Speedlights. Up to four of them, depending - most show three - one as key in a small softbox, one as fill in an umbrella, and one, the backlight, on a small tripod on the ground behind the dog to the left, angled to spray light across the backdrop with the wide-angle diffuser down. If I face the little IR sensor on the Speedlight towards the camera position, even in broad daylight, such as this (I'm under a pavillion), they fire fine.

Sometimes, I'll have a fourth as a rim light (need to use a gobo (bo-between) to keep flare from occuring in the lens, and sometimes I'll put one in a small softbox directly over the subject as well.