Wall-E and Eve

Stradawhovious · Jun 10, 2016

My In-laws are visiting with their two furry children Wall-e and Eve, so I figured it was a great excuse to fire up the new softbox and strobe. I'm finding that dogs are quite a bit more difficult to light than people, but it's a fun challenge. Short haired black dogs I'm finding are the most frustrating. Light just seems to get completely lost in them.

I'm also finding that they don't take direction well. :lol:

Luckily my wife and I make a good team, and the cycle time of my strobes is short, so when they are playing ball I can machine-gun shutter and have a pool of photos to choose from at the end of the day.

All in all I'm happy with the way these turned out, but please don't let that stop you from picking them apart. I don't learn from what I don't see until folks with experience in these matters point them out to me!

1.

2.

3.

otherprof · Jun 10, 2016

Stradawhovious said:
My In-laws are visiting with their two furry children Wall-e and Eve, so I figured it was a great excuse to fire up the new softbox and strobe. I'm finding that dogs are quite a bit more difficult to light than people, but it's a fun challenge. Short haired black dogs I'm finding are the most frustrating. Light just seems to get completely lost in them.

I'm also finding that they don't take direction well. Luckily my wife and I make a good team, and the cycle time of my strobes is short, so when they are playing ball I can machine-gun shutter and have a pool of photos to choose from at the end of the day.

All in all I'm happy with the way these turned out, but please don't let that stop you from picking them apart. I don't learn from what I don't see until folks with experience in these matters point them out to me!

1.

2.

3.

I really like the first two. I wish there were a little more space above and below the dogs in the last one.

Stradawhovious · Jun 10, 2016

otherprof said:
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I really like the first two. I wish there were a little more space above and below the dogs in the last one.

Thanks! Yeah, I agree. I'm pretty sure I left enough room to re-crop, so I will have to revisit this one. The issue is that the little dog kept inching right up to the edge of the platform, so everything below them was a shot looked like the edge of a table.... and I was debating on cropping or photoshipping the offending areas out... cropping won out with the time I had to work with. After this weekend is over I will have more time to revisit.

I appreciate your input!

smoke665 · Jun 10, 2016

#2 is my favorite, something about that face. Like the comment before the last one is really good as well, except for the crop.

pjaye · Jun 10, 2016

Love #2. I think you did well and I agree about the cropping. Pets are hard to shoot!

Dagwood56 · Jun 11, 2016

Well done!

tirediron · Jun 11, 2016

A couple of thoughts in addition to those already posted. I think you need a different background. The lightness of the mottling in this one is distracting and I find it's pulling my eye away from the dogs. I would suggest something with much less of a difference between the brights & darks. As well, when you have situations like the last one, just be patient. Eventually, they will both look toward the camera.

Stradawhovious · Jun 11, 2016

tirediron said:
A couple of thoughts in addition to those already posted. I think you need a different background. The lightness of the mottling in this one is distracting and I find it's pulling my eye away from the dogs. I would suggest something with much less of a difference between the brights & darks. As well, when you have situations like the last one, just be patient. Eventually, they will both look toward the camera.

Thanks for the advice!

I do have other backdrops, but the parents chose this one... and honestly I quite like it... but I can see what you are saying about the distraction, and I will take that into consideration on future shoots.

I'm hoping to have a different platform (stage) built in the very near future to avoid the issue of having the tight crop scenario, and to offer more versatility. I will also be buying even more backdrops soon, so any advice on those would be appreciated as well. Every shoot I learn something and your advice is very appreciated! Thank you!