Poor husband walked in from work and I made him pose. He is such a good sport

Great photo! I like the blue against the black background. Good sport is right :-) Is she in heat (panties)? If so, he is a *really* good sport :-p

Yes, she is in heat. She has a matching collar to go with those panties. Both were special made for her. My husband calls her my boutique dog. Which, of course she is!

Poor guy, I have been having fits about a photo that came back messed up. Taking it out on him sure isn't nice!

That looks like fun. I know you said you nabbed him at the door, but, next time you shoot it, you should use a reflector, and put your lights closer to the subject (you may have to turn them down). The umbrellas deliver relatively hard light, and the farther away they are the smaller the light source, thats why you have the hotspots - think of it like the sun, it's hunge, but it's so far away that it becomes a small light source, and hard, by the itme the light reaches the earth. Try a light box if you have one.

I ps'd it a bit and cropped it to focus on the subjects. You gennerally also want to try to make an "s" curve or at least keep the dogs head and the persons head from being lined up. That's why I cropped it a slight angle, otherwise it would have look too linear.


You should study light and posing, and your lighting will improve 100x. Read the book, "light, science and mangic" by Hunter and Fuquua - it's the best light book there is. It's spendy if you can find one, but you will learn a lot if you read it!!!!

I think a reflector would help fill the dark shadows under the eyes. puting the light source closer, will also help to wrap the light which will help make the subject much softer looking. Men usually dont need too much, because men usually photograph better under hard light, but give it a try.

Also, a bit about posing. It's almost always better to put your subject at a slight angle. I'd turn him a bit more left shoulder foward and make him sit up! Lose the watch too, it's a bit distracting. . .




Here's an example of softer light (shot like it's hard) on a man, it works here, but not always. By the way this was shot with two SB 800's one main, one fill (on camera dropped to -3 - I also used a reflector to lighten the shadows. Keep in mind that he has very dark skin, so you have to be very careful about hot spots, and blowing out the detail in the shirt, therefore he's little dark, but that's the compromise.

"The umbrellas deliver relatively hard light, and the farther away they are the smaller the light source, thats why you have the hotspots - think of it like the sun, it's hunge, but it's so far away that it becomes a small light source, and hard, by the itme the light reaches the earth. Try a light box if you have one. "

Hey Tony,

I think that the trick is that many folks like umbrellas for pets because the light is harder and the fur stands out a bit better. For the humans, we want something a bit softer because of the specular highlights. Don't get me wrong...many people use soft boxes as well for pets. I just know that when I do pet work, I prefer a slightly harder light.

BTW, you did a nice job cleaning them up. As my mentor used to teach me, 'consider every photograph a 60 second art project.' To get rid of the specular highlights, you take the paint brush, picking a color from the area you wish to emulate. Then, with a small pencil, with an opacity of between 15 and 19%, you draw over the hot spots.

Cheers
James

Great, Julie! Agreed with James, mixing furry and non-furry persons in pics makes for some tricky lighting - I'd say you pulled this one off great.

"Hey Tony,

I think that the trick is that many folks like umbrellas for pets because the light is harder and the fur stands out a bit better. For the humans, we want something a bit softer because of the specular highlights. Don't get me wrong...many people use soft boxes as well for pets. I just know that when I do pet work, I prefer a slightly harder light."


True enough, there always are compromises. In fact, it may be better to shoot it a bit hard and PS the human face and leave the harder light for the dog, or cat, or whatever. It points out a challange nonetheless!

In any event, it would do us all good to read the book I mentioned, and learn as much about light and its magic as possible. the more I shoot, the more I find myself wishing I had been able to retain, and put to use eveything I've learned about light in the past. I think I manage to reatain about 3% of what i learn. . . LOL

How about the reflectors, and the posing, do any of you animal photographers have any insight into how best to pose and position the subjects for portraits? How about showing a few examples?

Good discussion, take care, and Julie thanks for posting the picture. . .

I am *extremely* weak in this area. My car has been kicked out of the garage so I can just shoot at will for the time being. I am going to have a bunch of friends over with their dogs, to really practice this.

I really probably need a third light for a hair light. Well, I really need to learn to USE the lights I have

I have googled that book and I am going to buy it. What is $40 at this point

I have a gold/silver reflector I have kinda propped up to accentuate the human in gold light to warm him up a bit. I am still not getting exactly what I would like from it

Maybe shoot THROUGH the umbrellas vs bouncing off of them?

Editing to say I found a copy of that book on the web for $25. It should be here by the end of the week

AWESOME, you will be very pleased with yourself, when you get through the book. The book really is all about light. You will be amazaze at how much you learn and how useful the information will be. It's kind of strange, after I read the book, I looked at everything that reflected, or scattered light, with a new perspective - kind of annoying realy - but in a good way.

I think the shoot throughs and the bounce are about the same.

I was not aware of the dog/hair thing mentioned by James, but, I think i would give it all at try until you find your niche. You are brave to do this, thanks for posting and good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tony - don't make me spend more money.

"In any event, it would do us all good to read the book I mentioned, and learn as much about light and its magic as possible. the more I shoot, the more I find myself wishing I had been able to retain, and put to use eveything I've learned about light in the past. I think I manage to reatain about 3% of what i learn. . . LOL

How about the reflectors, and the posing, do any of you animal photographers have any insight into how best to pose and position the subjects for portraits? How about showing a few examples? "

As for a 3% retention rate - you are well ahead of me. I just LOOK competent - sometimes.

As for posing human and pets, I hate to say it, I do it very much like I do human portraits. To me, human/pet photographs are all about interaction. While you can certainly do a group photograph that includes the pets as a family, I prefer one to one shots with humans/pets. I don't post many of these shots here because I don't typically get releases for this kind of work (I should as it is a large source of after-sales income for many in terms of stock).

James