Dog photographs

Equipment and studio layout used-
Black and white background
soft box
umbrella
cardboard walls

With the dog being black was important that the dog was not lost in the black background , the studio was set up so that there was back lighting which would light up the background but was also
both soft box and umbrella lights on the dog, the soft box was good because it avoids loss of detail which other light sources would , and wanted to make sure could see all the detail of the dog even on the dark background.

   These are my two favourite pictures out of the photographs taken with both black and white background.

 One change i would do if i was to take these two pictures again would be to crop them down more however this could be done through editing later on , i particularly like how the light is shinnying on the dogs fur and you can clearly define the difference between the dog and the background.

Studio layout diagram done on Photoshop

This is how the studio was set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 looking at these pictures now on the computer and much bigger i would say that they perhaps have to much light and the light is almost over powering the the dog in the picture and would lower the brightness of the lights. However i do have to admit i do prefer the high key photographs with the white background all though you do not get the full deph of the dogs colouring i like the contrast between the dog and the background and the almost beaming light on him.

Portraite

Studio set up.

 

I wanted to take portrait pictures of the model but have a element of fun and show the models personality through the pictures as well , Was important to have one main light and for most of the pictures i chose to have broad lighting which illuminates the side of the models face.

 

The studio was set up with the main key light with a dish on and car board boards either side with a white background , the first couple of pictures the lighting is high up so its on the models face in the photograph , and then when the model moves position to the floor the positioning of the lights is then lowered to the floor level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two pictures i really like as they are a bit playful with the hat and tilting it , the lighting for these  i wanted to be very light and not too heavy so that did not become un flattering on the model in them.

These two  photo's i think the background is over powering the model in the picture and changes i would make if was to take the picture again would be to lower the flash or even turn down the brightness of the key lights so that the contrast between the background and the model was not so big and the model was not over powered by it. I mainly kept with the high key lighting for these pictures using reflector , however didn't completely over expose as i wanted the model in the picture to be clear and not blend into he white background , but because i was doing high level i purposely chose to use the white background rather than the black ground, furthermore the high light also reflects the mood of the picture being light hearted and happy where as if i had done low light and used a dark background it would not of created the same kind of mood to the pictures .

High light and Low light

High and low light images are very contrasting , high light is noticeably very bright with the settings of the lights at high exposure levels sometimes this causing the photograph to however be over exposed this meaning a lack of contrast and shadows in the photo.For example in image 1 and 2 it  is over exposed and you completely loose the piece of paper in the picture however in image 3 the exposure has been turned down and the right level of brightness has been adjusted to create a better high light photography. In contrast you have low key with much darker tones and full of contrast to which you can see in image 4 it is much darker and there is now shadow in the picture , the contrast between the images is clear to see.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

image 1

image 3

image2

image 4 Umbrella reflector

Equitment

 As far as equipment goes in the studio you can go as basic or technical as you want depending on the shoot and what effect you want for the pictures , for example can go for simple with 1keylight , background and reflectors or more with more lights and another light for the background so that there is 1 light on the model and 1 light for the background and then key lights with reflectors. 

For example the main piece of equipment which is used is the flash meter , which is simple to use simply connect the cable set the  Asa and aperture then change the mode which will mainly be set to the lightening bold with the c as this is the setting for when using flash inside , then simply push the button which then fires the flash to which lets you know if you need to move the lights close or further away or increase/decrease the amount of light.

Stones

Experimenting with light we got some shiny coloured stones and placed them on a translucent table top added once additional over head light and positioned the camera on a stand directly above looking down , the continuous light source of the table is pure white so flash is not required this is good for shiny objects such as these stones.

Glass

Using the background and reflections from lighting .

starting by hanging up the black back ground , i chose to use the black background as with the right lighting the subject can stand out clearly. I then set up the glass in the middle of the table and then had two hanging lights and

then started with using a soft box on one of the lights.
flash meter - After connecting the cable to the flash connection and setting the ASA to 100 and then changing the appature i then changed the mode to the lightening bolt with the c as this is used for working inside with flash.To which then could fire the tester flash which then determons if need more light or less light. For example the last 3 pictures had far too much light and needed the light to be decreased to which i did and the next pictures was a lot more balanced light wise.

The last 3 pictures the lighting is too strong in the right side of the picture and in order to balance the light even more i added two black carboard stands to block out and balance.