Another Take on Lighting

Yesterday's photos were a fun exercise.  I have a lot to learn about getting 'studio photos' but I was pleased with the first attempt.  (At the bottom of this post, I have an explanation of why I'm try to get these studio photos.)  Today, however, I decided to try some different lighting set-ups that are more 'dramatic'.

I wanted to try 'split lighting' where the light is at a 90 degree angle to the 'subject' and the camera.  Someone should have told my 'subjects' that they should have been looking directly at me... 

Dramatic, but it was hard to get the girls to 'hold the pose'.  I let the girls do their thing (I pay them in treats, so I can't work my models too hard...), and still got some interesting photos.

I wanted to see if I could get a subtle light on the 'dark' side of the girls, but lacking a reflector at the moment (and the things I use in my car to keep it from getting too hot in the parking lot don't work, just as an FYI), I thought I'd try my silver lined umbrella to see if that would work as a reflector.

It didn't exactly work - although may if Abby had been closer to the silver umbrella and farther from the flash (with a small softbox on it) it might have worked better.  But Fi was sitting next to her, and Fi wasn't moving when there were treats to be had.

So I turned on the little continuous light and shined it into the reflector (I probably should have but the light on the stand holding the silver umbrella, but it was spur-of-the-moment, and I didn't want to lose the girls' attention, while I had it).

    

This is what I was going for - the highlight in the eye on the 'dark' side of the face.

My model wasn't cooperating (she wasn't looking at me), but I really like this photo as a profile shot.

And then the girls decided they were mostly 'done' with the whole photo shoot, so I tried (a bit in vain) to get a photo of both of them.  This might have worked better if I had had a little more room behind me to get a bit further away from them.  But I didn't, and this is what I got.

Silly girls!

I've got a book on 'Lighting Essentials' that I'm going to start reading, to see I can actually figure out what I'm trying to accomplish in these photos, and then how to actually accomplish it.  We'll see how it goes.  I have a feeling a dog training book would probably help, too!  Just kidding.  The girls are actually surprisingly tolerant of things flashing/shining in their faces.  I just have to keep the photo sessions short - and I always have to have a lot of treats - so they don't get burned out.

Finally, a little context for yesterday's photos.  A few years ago I took the girls to Petco and had some 'professional' photos taken, and I've been attempting to emulate those photos ever since.  Here are a couple of the photos by the 'professionals' (I put it in quotes, as it was a couple of kids who had a nice lighting set up, and a bunch of squeaky toys to get the attention of their subjects - Fi didn't like the material they used for the background, and the photographers didn't really know what to do about that.  But I still liked the photos the took and I bought them, so I guess they are professionals.)

This is actually a photo of the print - I have the digital copies on my external hard drive, but I'm too lazy to look for it...  This is one of my all-time favorite photos of Abby - such a hambone!  I'd really like to get a photo like this again!

Fi really didn't like the background material and never sat still, so her ears always looked like she was sitting in front of a fan!

I'd still like to be able to get photos like this (with a background Fi can tolerate) someday.

Day 236/365.