My Dog's Birthday Cake and The Making Of....

[mrodgers]

Post critique. Number your shots....

Question. Is that a $30 Walmart bought tripod sitting in the corner of your dining room (shot #11?) If so, do you use that with a dSLR and how does it work with a dSLR? I have been wondering as I have the Walmart tripod myself. It's a great tripod for my superzoom, but my superzoom is much lighter and more compact than a dSLR with lens.

 

[chrisburke]

you've got a beautiful pooch there.. my wife just looked and said "oh my goodness he looks cuddly"

amazing cake to.. had no idea there was a book for dog-safe recipes... your wife should sell those things (the cakes, not the books).. i watched a show the other day on the food network about a cake decorating company in the states.. from the cakes i've seen you post in the past, your wife could battle it out with them (the ppl on the show)

 

[stsinner]

Question. Is that a $30 Walmart bought tripod sitting in the corner of your dining room (shot #11?) If so, do you use that with a dSLR and how does it work with a dSLR?

Actually, that's a $19 tripod that I bought on eBay, and do yourself a favor and don't skimp on the tripod.. I bought 4 at once, thinking I could use them for lighting. Well, they're fine for lighting, but even the shutter/mirror locking up when I shoot makes them move and blur..

Don't waste your money. I can't even use those pieces of crap, except for lighting.

As it stands, I don't have one good tripod, so I can't really take tripod shots yet. I've learned that the tripod matters, and you want a heavy one.

 

[stsinner]

you've got a beautiful pooch there.. my wife just looked and said "oh my goodness he looks cuddly"

amazing cake to.. had no idea there was a book for dog-safe recipes... your wife should sell those things (the cakes, not the books).. i watched a show the other day on the food network about a cake decorating company in the states.. from the cakes i've seen you post in the past, your wife could battle it out with them (the ppl on the show)

Thanks, Chris!! She'll be ecstatic to read your post when she gets home from work..

Actually, she has sold two so far-one for $100 and one for $50.. She loves doing it, and if it makes her some fun money, all the better.

 

[stsinner]

just can't win in here can you? damned if you do ... damned if you don't ..... lol

anywhoooo .............

i like the first one. it has a play on how we treat our animals better than we treat ourselves and at the same time how animals act like they are humans. (this has nothing to do with what you feed your counterpart ... i have had several dogs, they have all gotten into chocolate and i know what your talking about..... after the comment, i thought i should tell you that so you don't get confused). i'm not going to waste your time reading commments about the setup shots ..... there isn't any need to. i like how you documented the process, showing the detail put into the cake.... it show's how you feel about your counterpart. i'm just trying to figure out how you got the shadow on shot #10????? surely you weren't using a shoe mount flash along with this setup? ....... just curious........ what happened?

Actually, I don't know about that shadow. I was using my SB600 along with the umbrella, and perhaps it's just that the SB600 overpowered the umbrella flash, which is the cheap Digital Concepts flash I just raved about.

 

[jonesy1]

Love the pics! The cake is awesome!

Love the first picture. Your dog is so cute!

 

[stsinner]

Love the pics! The cake is awesome!

Love the first picture. Your dog is so cute!

Thanks, I really appreciate it. Now if I can only get my wifes inflated head through doorways, we'll be okay.. :lmao:

 

[Samanax]

#1 - That dog looks too comfortable...lol...lucky guy, I wish I was at home sleeping right now.

#2, #3, #4 & #5 - Nicely lit with nice soft shadows and the exposure looks good (#3 is slightly underexposed).

#6, #7, #8, #9 & #10 - Looks like you used direct flash as it's causing hard shadows. Did you try bouncing the light off the ceiling?

#11 & #12 - I enjoy seeing pictures of lighting setups. One thing...the flash should be pointed at the center of the umbrella. On the umbrella adapters my friends use, the hole for the umbrella rod is angled so that the rod and umbrella has a slight rise to come up to the height of the flash. In your pictures it seems the rod comes straight out of the adapter. Just something they warned me about when I get my light stands and umbrellas.

Looks like you're having a lot of fun with your off-camera flash gear.

 

[mrodgers]

Stsinner, what flash is that? Is that the one from your other thread of the $26 job? If so, Adorama says it's in route from their warehouse on the website. Must be a pretty popular flash. I'm going to order one tonight to use with my Fuji since it's cheap and I can trigger it with the popup.

 

[stsinner]

Stsinner, what flash is that? Is that the one from your other thread of the $26 job? If so, Adorama says it's in route from their warehouse on the website. Must be a pretty popular flash. I'm going to order one tonight to use with my Fuji since it's cheap and I can trigger it with the popup.

That's the one.. I love that cheap thing! It has never missed firing, even with my SB-600 dialed down to 1/64 power. It's very fast to recycle, too.

I think you'll enjoy it.

 

[stsinner]

#1 - That dog looks too comfortable...lol...lucky guy, I wish I was at home sleeping right now.

#2, #3, #4 & #5 - Nicely lit with nice soft shadows and the exposure looks good (#3 is slightly underexposed).

#6, #7, #8, #9 & #10 - Looks like you used direct flash as it's causing hard shadows. Did you try bouncing the light off the ceiling?

#11 & #12 - I enjoy seeing pictures of lighting setups. One thing...the flash should be pointed at the center of the umbrella. On the umbrella adapters my friends use, the hole for the umbrella rod is angled so that the rod and umbrella has a slight rise to come up to the height of the flash. In your pictures it seems the rod comes straight out of the adapter. Just something they warned me about when I get my light stands and umbrellas.

Looks like you're having a lot of fun with your off-camera flash gear.

Thanks for the critique. Unfortunately, I didn't try bouncing the flash off the ceiling, but instead tried to light from both sides to prevent shadows. I think I'll shoot it again and try bouncing, because I have low, white ceilings.

 

[chrisburke]

Well, they're fine for lighting

i use cheap tripods for the same thing! i got a bunch of $10 tripods from a discount store in my town, they work great for mounting flashes and umbrellas!

 

[Mgw189]

Sorry about the no photo critique. I have 4 dogs so that is what I picked up on first. And Cocoa powder is no better than regular chocolate (although that has been covered) so thats what I posted first. I am also sure that your mastif weights a little more than 20kg As for the the photos they are good. The lighting on the first bothers me a little bit. Its a personal preference thing. That flash you picked up looks pretty cool. I have one of the other ones you said you had with the AAA batteries. It has been fun to play around with but not enough power.