A family session with their first dog

These people have their first dog and they think she hung the moon. They asked me to come out and do a full family session with them and the dog



(I blew out the white, dunno why)

Nice! Love the first one especially. Little lady's face appears dark on my monitor, but may be my monitor.

I think it is my monitor, I have it set to WHCC's profile and that is lighter in the midtones than reality

Nice stuff, Julie. I like them all. Cavaliers are just such great dogs and very photogenic as is the family. It's clear that the sun and moon rise on this little pumpkin!!

Jim

These are great Julie. Were you shooting at f2? Your DOF is wonderful. Would you mind sharing the lighting situation, did you use flash, etc and was it overcast? Here is seems if it's overcast it's just too dark...

I moved the aperture around some, with most of the individuals at f2, and the group photos at f4.5 I get about a stop more of dof than a full frame camera. Which, is good and bad depending on what you want

I used my flash with a Demb Flip it(bounce card thingie) for many of these. The light was the right time, though, much of this was heavy shade and the sun shots were too bright. So, I did use a dialed down flash for many of these. It was too flat without it.

I am not sure which I *didn't* use flash with though. The exif is in the files, but, smugmug makes it hard to see it. I don't strip them though.

The mom was really really happy with these and wants all sorts of things, the flip book I offer, 16x20 canvases ect; and so on

Julie,
looks to me like you burned in the edges a bit, too. Nice touch.

Good session and great $$ order. Nice work.

Jim

Great job, Julie. I just had someone want to schedule a "family" shoot with their 2 Danes. I'm not a people shooter, so your info was really helpful. I was thinking of ordering the Flip-it. It cheap enough to give it a try. I have a Stofen, but I'm not so sure I like the result with that.

wow, looks like you nailed that shoot!!!!!!! Great job Julie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love them all, man have you come a long way in the last year, youre doing some awesome work my friend!

If I am not mistaken, Julie, you have been doing pet photography for a relatively short time, but I am so impressed with your progress. You give me hope that someday I will progress as well as you have.

Great work.

Yes, I have been doing pet photography for maybe 18m-2 years? I started with equestrian photography and moved into pet stuff. I bought my lights just over a year ago(these are obviously not studio lit)

I am really really OCD about things and I have taken courses at UT and online and photography forums are wonderful for instant feedback. I think you also get more pointed feedback.

Portrait stuff is harder than when I did just event photography. With event photography you just wait for the moment to happen and stay invisible, with portraits, you have to make it happen and direct it, which, I have a hard time with!

Julie, how much of the final image do you think depends on photoshop? Of course you need a good well exposed image to start, but I find that almost all successful portrait shooters now are ALL highly PS's.

Just curious of your thoughts. . . .

I think the photoshopping adds the final touch that takes it from a nice image, to a finished image. Easy to go overboard though! I have to watch myself as sometimes PS is a razor in my monkeyish hands!

I would love to have the skills of some here