Puppy Portraiture - Speed Lighting with Speedlights

A couple of weeks ago, a good friend of mine sends me a message. "Can you take some photos of my dog? I want to put together a birthday gift for my Mom." Sure, that's easy enough! I've wanted a chance to play with multiple lights, I love dogs, and I like taking photos.

Now, before I continue, be aware that I very much like to get things right. Yes, I experiment with things - trial and error is something that I like. That said, I prefer my trials and, most certainly my errors, happen when I'm experimenting - not when I'm taking shots for someone else!

Seeing lighting has been getting more intuitive. Fill light on the dog, and then a subtle flash that I could use to bring out the background. Heck, I even made a nice DIY reflector from cardboard and aluminum foil to get a little bounce to fill in shadows! I knew what I wanted from this shoot - Eye level shots of a pooch that were well lit and had great color. Oh, and obviously, I wouldn't ever want to crop things!

Now, our pup of the day was Bianca - an adorably happy dog that, try as we might, did not enjoy sitting still. Which was an issue, when you'd find the perfect spot to shoot, get it lit, and then bring the dog over. Well, little Bianca would check out the spot - and then decide she wanted to run elsewhere. Bribe with treats, get 20 seconds of possibly good shots (but oh, don't forget to shift the camera position a little, because now poor little Bianca is showing off that nice cardboard reflector in the background! After 15 minutes or so of this rather silly endeavor, the dim bulb begins to illuminate, and I start finding other places that I can make super fast lighting arrangements. Ah, here's a nice section of carpet - Get those lights set!

Thoughtful Dog - Unsightly Reflector

That's how you end up with a couple hundred photographs, many of which are of a hyper little pup dodging the camera in the name of excitement! And that is also how you end up with one sad photographer, when he begins looking through his shots, and is struggling to find usable ones. But they come. Gradually, but they come. More and more usable shots - more than enough with which a friend can craft a gift.

Equipment Used

Nikon D7100 Camera
2 x SB-600 (used gear from solid resellers like B&H or Adorama, amongst others, is awesome)
3 x Cactus V5 Wireless Triggers
DIY Cardboard-foil reflector

Images