Dog Potrait Studio Setup Advice

Bullysrus

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Tony
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I'm trying to setup a small studio for Dog Potraits.

So I have my white and black vinyl backgrounds on a role system and my Lencarta lights x 2

But I'm after some advice help.

Do I use flash or continuous lighting, do I use softboxes, umbrellas, do the lights go at the front, the side, the back. Just wondered what was best, so thought I would ask the experts.

Thanks in advance
 
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Bullysrus said:
I'm trying to setup a small studio for Dog Potraits.

So I have my white and black vinyl backgrounds on a role system and my Lencarta lights x 2

But I'm after some advice help.

Do I use flash or continuous lighting, do I use softboxes, umbrellas, do the lights go at the front, the side, the back. Just wondered what was best, so thought I would ask the experts.

Thanks in advance

If you have your 2 x lencarta lights then you have no option on flash/continuous lighting.

Read some books on lighting set ups, google successful pet photographers and analyse their images, read through the threads on here or best of all.....try it!

Learning lighting doesn't happen with a recipe.
 
Thanks All

My first Test Shots straight from the Camera

So comments welcome.

pug1.jpg


pug21.jpg


pug3.jpg


pug4.jpg
 
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A bit flarey and lacking contrast, subject outline bleached - basically background over-lit. The lighting techniques involved are no different to human subjects, and there's a lot on here about shooting white backgrounds.

But it has to be said, it's not the easiest thing to pull off, even for experienced studio photographers. This is the nub of it: for a pure white background, it has to be over-exposed and blown to white. Yet at the same time, the background has to be very evenly lit, and only just blown, not nuked.

With the right gear and bit of practise you can do that with the background well enough, because it can be lit separately from the subject. But with the train/floor, you cannot - because that means over-exposing the subject that's sitting on it at the same time. It's not easy either in the studio, or in the post processing needed to finish it off.

Basically, don't start with pure white backgrounds. Life will be much easier if you start with something easier.
 
HoppyUK said:
A bit flarey and lacking contrast, subject outline bleached - basically background over-lit. The lighting techniques involved are no different to human subjects, and there's a lot on here about shooting white backgrounds.

But it has to be said, it's not the easiest thing to pull off, even for experienced studio photographers. This is the nub of it: for a pure white background, it has to be over-exposed and blown to white. Yet at the same time, the background has to be very evenly lit, and only just blown, not nuked.

With the right gear and bit of practise you can do that with the background well enough, because it can be lit separately from the subject. But with the train/floor, you cannot - because that means over-exposing the subject that's sitting on it at the same time. It's not easy either in the studio, or in the post processing needed to finish it off.

Basically, don't start with pure white backgrounds. Life will be much easier if you start with something easier.

Wow, and I thought I had done quite well for my first attempt.

Oh we'll back to the drawing board

Many thanks
 
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