Who is the Master?
Owner and pet, a reflection of each other.
Owner and pet, a reflection of each other.
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Feb, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in studio in Miami, Florida as part of a series of portraits with dogs and their owners, entitled Yes Master.Time
I shot this in studio.Lighting
The dogs I shot for this series weren't trained animals so lighting two subjects in an interesting way, considering one of the subjects is constantly moving around was a bit of a challenge. The way around it was to use a large octobox as key light at a slight angle in front of them and a smaller side light as a fill that I could adjust quickly to follow the dog's movements. The dog's expressions were key to the photos so after a balancing act between the camera and the lights, this was the result.Equipment
This was shot on a Canon 5D Mark III and a 50mm lens. I shot it handheld and used a large octobox as a key light and a smaller spotlight to fill in or highlight the dog's presence in the photo.Inspiration
I love dogs and have been a dog owner all my life and there is such a comical aspect to how we treat dogs and pretty much let them rule the house and become the masters themselves. I also noted similarities between pets and their masters and I wanted to portray that in a subtle way, through an expression or gesture, a look. I actually recruited friends and loved ones to model for me and I explored those similarities in the relationship in studio.Editing
I like to keep my photos quite natural and do very little post-processing, the challenge is to get as much as I can in camera. For this duo, I thought of Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Alice in Wonderland and since the dog naturally has two eye colors, I wanted to match it up the enhance the comical effect. So for post-processing, other than slight color correction and adjustments it was about changing the color of one of the man's eyes to brown.In my camera bag
I was taught by a photojournalist so I try to keep it light. I have my Canon 5D Mark III and 3 lenses; a 50mm lens, a 70mm-200mm lens and a 24mm lens. A couple of extra cf cards and batteries and I'm good to go! If I'm planning for a specific idea I'll use a monopod or tripod and sometimes a remote.Feedback
Light is super important in portrait photography so when a subject is moving in an unpredictable way around the set it's better to be prepared with lighting so you can improvise and have fun in the moment, it will show in the photo and be better for it!
