Lessons

Lesson Info

Shoot: Nikki and puppy "Gus"

And this is Kate, right? Hi, Kate. Thank you for being here. Okay, if you want to just hang out, um, for a minute, let me move this light. And you can just actually sit on this couch right here, I guess. Discuss. We were ready. Hi. So we're photographing all kinds of different animals. Um, Gus is a puppy. He's less than a year. He's a year old. Andi. It's funny, cause I think some of the dogs that were doing later today, her very quote well trained. And I actually one of my not least favorite things, but kind of my least favorite thing is photographing dogs that are well trained. The reason for that is because when people, though, like therapy dogs, not that I don't enjoy it. But it's so hard to get great expressions out of dogs that are well trained because there's zoomed in on their owner there looking at them. And they're like, there were animals who aren't trained. I'm gonna assume like Gus, he kind of had, like, a papal personality. When you make noises, they're like, what's going...

on? Where dogs were training. All right, I'm staying. What going to do now owing to sit up. OK, now I'm sitting now you have me do now, so it's not I mean, they're easier to photograph in the sense of like they do anything you want, But dogs that are untrained or actually more expressive generally. So I don't mean that in a bad way. Just, um all right, so I am going to kind of gear up. If you guys saw this at the spotlight event, this is like a shotgun shell older case. So it's my husband like trap shoots with it. So I was looking for something when I started doing pet photography because what I found was when I was leaving toys all over the place. One. I don't want the animals to get to them, but to owners, I guarantee you, if you leave toys out and owners and like, you look disgusting, did just great space, but and it's like one. It's annoying, but to like, it's gonna wear him out on all those noises, and I need those noises to get his attention. So I wear about like this in my studio. I don't normally wear it when I'm shooting because I have, like a whole wall with my stuff and I, like, keep it covered so the owners can't even see it. So they're out of the way. But I do wear something like this when I'm shooting on location shooting situations like this. And the reason that I dio a thing like this specifically is because if I didn't apron, that was flat and I bent over or squatted down. That's going to squeak all my toys. So if you do something that kind of sticks out further like this, I have it with me. Easy access. Um, yeah, The toys aren't going to squeak, so I already metered my lights. So one of the things that I dio when I'm photographing pets one of my number one rules one of my number one rules is elevating animals. Um, if you elevate animals, it's so much easier to photograph them than photographing them on the floor. One on the floor. They could just kind of walk around, thank you wherever they want. But to, um, it's harder for owners because they have to kind of, like lean over like this, where if they're on a couch, they can just go pens in hands out, but it gives pets a place to stay and kind of psychologically, it tells them, This is where I want you to be. So I usually always photograph pets elevated when we're doing studio sessions like this studio style portrait's. And again, this could be in your home in your client's home. I always want animals sitting or laying. I don't like them standing in the studio. To me, it looks very unsettled. Hi, baby. Outdoors. I like standing, but in the studio especially like on a couch of a dog standing on a couch. Unless they're small, they're like a little £34 dog. You can get away with standing because they're so tiny. But if you have like, Gus is size standing on a couch, it just looks unsettled. So I do like animals. Consider Lay. All right. I'm just gonna do a test shot. Make sure I can't see anything through my camera like that. All right. Blame it on me. I'm good. All right, hon. So, Kate, what we're gonna do, let's take his leash off, and I want us call her off to and actually switch sides. You're gonna sit on the side we're gonna switch him over to the other side, Q t pie, and we're just fill it all the way out of the way. Perfect. And we're gonna talk about that a little bit later. To 99% of my portrait's. When you see them don't include collars. It's just a look that I like. So that's good. His pull his legs all the way over your legs. So front legs all the way over your left, all they were. Over, Over. Over. Yeah, perfect. All right, just like that. All right, you're gonna look at me and I'm just gonna make some noises to get his attention. Ready? What? Five day? There it is. Perfect. So, again, I'm overexposed a little bit, but you see out got his attention, and he's looking down on the ground. He's not sure. So it's just lifting my hand up just to get him to picked his head up a little bit. So that's actually I would like to actually have him by himself. If you can stand up, you're gonna stand on this side over here, call them all the way up. Yea, coming back. What? Everybody. Come on, sweetheart. He's Okay, you're ready. And if you want to help him up there, Come on, Erica. All right. Once he gets up there, you're just gonna keep your hands on him. You're gonna lean over there. You gotta keep petting him. Perfect. When I gets attention, you're gonna take your hands out, but keep petting him until then. 00 the job. That was perfect. Stay. There were times to begin. Perfect. Good job. Who was perfect? All right. You guys can do like a little bit of oohs and aahs just to make me feel like I'm doing okay. You're like, we're trying to be so quiet. All right, let's do this. Kate, I'm gonna scoot this couch over just a little bit. So this is the deal. I know Kate and Gus his name. I don't know anyone else's name who's coming in today, so I'm going to use her name as much as I can't everyone out something like, um, German shepherd. Move this way a little bit. All right, So what? I'm gonna dio I want us his head against the green a little bit because he kind of matches this couch a little, So Okay, I'm gonna have you down here. Come here, Everybody. Everybody. So you're right here. He's up here. Okay. All right. Get him all the way up again. Oh, so I'm gonna shoot. This is a little bit closer of a head shot. So we're not seeing the stool habits that keep your hands on him and get him real close to you. And he is good. There's a lot going on, but he's happy. He's not, like, nervous in any way. So everything's good. Get in there, babe. Perfect on scooters. Booty around. All right, you're gonna look right here, huh? Genius? My already terrific. Everything hang in there, but can't keep smiling on. I just There it is. I just don't want with a smile. That was perfect. Okay, you're gonna look at him for one. I'm just gonna show you guys that on tethering so you can see it. Hold on. There it is with a little smile, and I always ask people to just keep heading him. I was asked, people, Do you have a preference on their mouth open or closed? Some people have a strong preference. Some people don't, But on that shot, if I keep making noises. He's just gonna keep his mouth closed. So kind of let him show for a second and let his mouth open. Capture that shot to That's so cute. Keep smiling at him. Perfect. If you blow in his face, but just smile when he looks at you. Very good. Perfect number. Time blowing him again. Very good. Hold on. He's like, I don't care about that. He's good. All right, let's scoot and roll close to you if we can. And sitting again actually will stay sitting. I'm just gonna shoot a head shot here. But you're okay. Oh, column in heaven. Sit. Sit. And getting real close to you. So I'm not. Didn't actually have food, but it got his attention. I'm ready. You okay? Right there. I don't want to do that. It's OK, actually, this is this is a cute individual. Let him say that. Ready? Hold on, hold on, Hold on, do it again. You get up. You see some of this and keep your eyes on of it is good and keep hitting him. So I don't want you to take your hands off of him until I actually get his attention and screw them all the way over to the edge of the couch because I don't want you sitting there. Your sweetie. One more, one more of you by yourself. Stop right there and keep your hands on him. Hold on me And I want him sitting or lying here. Okay, sweetie. Come here, honey. Just holding my one of real close to you. I know. It's exciting, huh? Every time I close the mama. Come here. There you go. They're coming. Come here and give me a second. He's okay. Just try and stop him. If he jumps down, that's ready. You ready? One call side, huh? Uh huh. Perfect. I'm good with it. I'm gonna show you guys that on tethering because his expression was adorable. Can we see that? I only salute. Cute. He is. Okay. Okay. So the way that I was having them pose, he wasn't like in it, So I wasn't keep going with it. But that's a good way to get owners to get their heads close together. Because sometimes when you haven't sitting on the couch like they were before, it's kind of all about Kate, and then Gus is kind of just here. Where when you even their heads out a little bit like that, They're kind of both evenly important. So let's do one more shot of you guys together. And I'm happy with his individuals to stand up for a second. All right, so happy, buddy. And if you can kind of see, I didn't even use treats. But you, assuming you used treats a lot of home between them because he associated that like, as soon as I kind of just even did that. He got really wiggly and really excited. It's not bad. I mean, he's happy, and he's comfortable. Some like I'm all good with it, All right? And I'm gonna have you just like this. If you can lean over, he's gonna spoon with you. Okay? Just like this. So I get up there, so we're gonna get his head on the same side of your head. And again, this is just getting their heads nice and close together. Ready? Come on. There we go. Hold on to him. Perfect, buddy. And he's a bigger dog. In the sense were if he sits, it's gonna block your face. Yeah, I just want him land like that. All right. Sleepy. So cute. Stay with it. We just wanted to get your face. Look, a whole London. Don't let him come up right there. Perfect. Chin down. Just little bit right there. And lean for just a little bit right there. We're about to stay there. Stay there. Wait. That's ready. And blown his face against you. Could get one looking at you. Very big style speech. Last national. Perfect. Just make sure you smile as soon as he turns at you. I'm actually go with that shot, but I actually I didn't coach her as well. When you tell, people belong there face blurring their face. But hold on. Don't do it. As soon as they look at you, make sure you smile because what they do is they're blowing like, Oh, it's working. And they don't realize that it's not looking good for my end of your fine. I didn't coach you. Well, I'm actually good with you guys. Great job, Jesse. So sweet. It was so funny, cause in the portrait that you sent, he looks like a little £ multi. Thank you for having me here. You have questions. Do you have questions? Hold on. Make sure we get a mic for you guys. First of all, I've learned so much in this first hour of everything I was doing was completely wrong. It's been fantastic. I noticed that when you were shooting, you were holding the camera with one hand and doing this. And I get a lot of camera shake. Yes, was I need to work out. So, um what shutter speed are you shooting at? You know, in the studio right now. So the question is, what shutter speed in my shooting at and I met 1 25 That's not super fast. When I'm outdoors, I'm usually shooting at like 400 is kind of my minimum where I'm comfortable when I'm shooting outdoors, but I and it may be it's just practice. I do shoot a lot one handed, because again, if I hold two hands, I can only do mouth noises. And if they're working, that's awesome. But, ah, lot of times they get worn out quickly, so you need to do a couple other things. But just to show you guys I know where kind of letting us run around a lot. But I didn't use a squeaky toy once in that session. So again, just try and do other things before you do squeaky toys. But since your question, I do shoot one handed a lot. I just did a lighting workshop with someone I was attending and they said, shooting a tripod. Why are you not shooting on a tripod? And I think it's just however you're comfortable. I learned hand holding, so I just have a hard time with tribe. Odd just cause I learned hand holding. But 1 25 is what I'm shooting within the studio just with studio lights. So get muscles work out. Can I ask him a little bit more about your studio set up? Is this your typical set up that you usually do in your lighting and how far you've got it? Kind of. I mean, none of this is mine, so I'm kind of winging it today. I'm like, what does this background match? Because I don't know any of the background. There are new, but this is typically the size soft boxes. This is a different brand that I use, but this is the size that I use usually a four by six on a three by four. I like really big lights, A like, really soft light. And we're gonna actually talk about that's gonna be the one of the first things we talk about when we get back into the slides is lighting. Um, I usually like my pet photography kind of flat. It's not the whole 3 to 1 ratio, like proper lighting that sells better for me. And I've just found over the years that if I do too much of a ratio, I'm getting off topic. Sorry, but if I do too much of a ratio, people are always like that. Side of his face is a little dark and you brighten it up a little bit, so I usually tend to shoot a little bit more flat. If there's just people in the portrait without pets, I will do more of ah contrast on shadow and highlights. But as far as my studio set up what you saw, it's pretty typical. Um, I'm on furniture. I'm not photographing them on the floor. This is about the distance. I shoot with the 24 to 70 lens when I'm in the studio. When I'm outdoors, I always shoot with the longer lens I always have, like a 72 200 that's just because you're outdoors. And I mean, they're just running around. So but as faras about how far away I am, um, tethering I don't do usually my studio, but what you see is pretty typical.