October was awesome, a big thanks to every single person who sat in front of my camera or gave me space to practice my craft or both in October – you all are awesome! On that note, let’s start November off right with more puppy photos because every month should start with puppy photos or kitten photos or puppy and kitten photos. And this would be a good time to put my constant reminder about working with animals:
When working with animals, be patient and kind. Our pets just want people to be happy, but they don’t know how to make that happen. Throw in a camera and maybe photography lights and you have a setting they just completely do not understand. So, give them a break and just sort of go where they lead you – they are trying the best they can. Besides, if you get all upset, they will pick that up and then good luck getting anything other than worry out of them.
Anyway, for this shot I went with a quieter setup. Just two strobes with grids on either side of the models. One strobe was the key light and was brighter and the other light was just a very subtle fill light set low. This set up is great for melodramatic shots or calm shots where you really want to “paint” with light and shadow. One side note – if you don’t have another strobe or speedlight you can get a similar effect with the white side of a photography reflector though I’d recommend an assistant for adjustment as you zero in the exact angle or something you can adjust easily that will hold the reflector.