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Dachshund or teckel.

A studio recording of friends' dog.

A studio recording of friends' dog.
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Hasselt, , BE

upload_date

Aug, 2020

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Fall Award 2020

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo of a longhaired Dachshund (Teckel) was taken in a studio environment. We had set up a table and a wall that we covered with a black cloth to make the scene as dark as possible. The intention was to make the hair of the dog(s) glow (front and back).

Time

We did this shoot somewhere around 20.00 h in the evening when it was already getting dark. This way we did not have to cover the windows of the studio.

Lighting

I used 2 softboxes, one on the left front, to light up the frontside and another softbox on the right, behind the dog, to light up the back. The front softbox was directly controlled with a trigger and the second in the back was on slave.

Equipment

I used a Canon 700D camera (5 years old) and a set of Godox SK400 II flashes with standard softboxes. The triggers and receivers are from Cactus.

Inspiration

The question came from the dog owner. He wanted some pictures to remember the Dachshund (in case the dog should pass away). The owner did not want to take an action photo (jumping or running or something like that). He just wanted the dog to sit down and pose in a way that he (or she - I don't remember the gneder of the dog) was looking up to it's boss. The owner held up some dog coockies as he always did, and this made the Dachshund look up. The ideal pose.

Editing

There was little post-processing to be done. The most important part of the work was getting rid of the dog hair that was spread on the cloth while trying to get the ideal pose. Also darkening the background took some processing.

In my camera bag

As I am still a beginner (in my eyes), I don't have an extensive arsenal of materials at hand. I own a Canon 700D body and a Canon zoom EF-S 18-135mm (1:3.5 - 5.6 IS STM). If I go outside and take nature photos, I use a Canon zoom lens EF-S 10-18 mm (1:4.5 - 5.6 IS STM) to get a wide angle view.

Feedback

The problems with dogs is that they listen and obey for a while, but then they tend to get nervous, distracted, move around, start barking and finally want to leave. The most important advice is to prepare the photo scene and light settings before the model arrives. You cannot practice shooting photos and adapting lights with the dog in the studio. As a brilliant solution, we used a dark plush dog as a model to experiment with the lights and to set the exposure correctly. After this was all adjusted, it was only a matter of getting the dog on the right spot and into the right pose as quickly as possible. Which then worked almost immediately.

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FotographyFactory

Dachshund or teckel.

A studio recording of friends' dog.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow FotographyFactory

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