Tag Archives: natural light studio photography

we like to have fun

May 29, 2009 – 10:00 pm

I have to preface this post by once again reminding everyone that I am *not* a studio photographer. Yes, I have my office in a studio, and I have done some practicing, but every shoot I have done in the studio thus far has been little more than an experiment.

I never picture myself being a studio photographer, and I pretty much suck at taking pictures with studio lighting, but from time to time I like to have fun. Natural light only, anything goes, no planning involved.

And with that said I bring you mine and my friend Victoria’s version of what studio photography *should* be. Can you tell we don’t take ourselves very seriously?
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by the way, that’s me above. and seymour. I love him. A lot. 

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And that’s Victoria. The lucky caretaker of Charlie and Seymour, the puggie pies you guys know from this blog since way back. I LOVE that they are both laughing in the shot on the lower left!!

We cracked up when we discovered that we could synch our head tilts with Seymour’s. I have many outtakes where we are each just doubled over laughing. For each of us taking pictures, we had to stop many times to laugh it out before taking the next shot. Ahhh, Seymour is awesome.  

Pugs are so gosh darn easy to get the head tilt from. Any pet photographer who hasn’t gotten a head tilt out of a pug they have photographed should be ashamed of themselves. ASHAMED I tell ya!

Anyway, it was time for some levity on this blog so I hope you enjoyed it! :-)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Pugs!, seattle dog photography | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (7)

high-key natural light studio dog photography (yes, really!)

March 23, 2009 – 10:22 pm

Upon doing some more experimenting in the studio for a recent Decopaw sitting, I discovered, much to my delight, that it is possible to do high-key photography using exclusively natural light.

I should provide a disclaimer here: although I didn’t use any auxiliary light, only what was coming in the west windows of the studio, I *did* do processing in LR2 to get the final look (see the notes on the image below). The next time I do this I’ll be sure to start a little earlier than 2:30pm on a cloudy winter day, lol.

This is Missy. Missy was an awesome subject, and super expressive, and even given the MacGuyver-ish nature of my setup, and her penchant for jumping after her ball, the backdrop didn’t get knocked down once. I can’t wait to try this again!

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The shot below is unedited, so you guys can see the raw materials I was working with.

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Good gracious she is cute.

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My tire. Mine.

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Uhhh missy….   you’ve got a little somethin there….

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By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in for photographers, Private client shoots, seattle dog photography | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (25)

Kosmo natural light studio dog photography

January 23, 2009 – 1:18 am

My disclaimer for all of my studio shoots is I have no idea what I am doing. I don’t know much about lights, or how ambient light interacts with auxiliary light, or even how all of the settings on my flash work. I am a total newbie when it comes to studio pet photography. BUT, I haven’t given up entirely, and still have some more experimenting to do as I feel it’s my duty as a photographer to take advantage of the amazing studio I am in.

Kosmo’s shot were nearly all taken with natural (available) light coming in the west side of the studio. This post is dedicated to Pam Biasotti and Maria Carey, two of the biggest golden lovers you will ever meet.  

Ahhh, you can see my amateur status below on the right. Reason #14 why I should not be shooting against a seamless paper backdrop. 

Kosmo has the cutest little fuzzy feet. 

A personal fave on the right below. Man, that is some serious dog tongue.

I was getting really frustrated during our shoot because for whatever reason my camera wouldn’t focus. So I decided to just relax and play with Kosmo with my free hand. He totally got into it and made me laugh out loud. There is nothing like playing with a dog to make your stress melt away. 

Ouch. Ok, that’s enough. :-) Love you Kosmo!

Thank you Josh and Ashley for being such big Cowbelly supporters. I love all you guys!

 

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Private client shoots | Also tagged , , | Comments (14)

Henry and Gracie in the studio

December 19, 2008 – 8:54 pm

Some experimenting with natural light in the studio a couple of weeks ago. And it was natural light only because the studio lights I rented did nothing to illuminate the voluminous space. Oh and uh, I broke one of them. More on that in a later post, lol.

Gracie. She is so pretty.

Gracie and her favorite toy.

Gracie’s brother Henry, who is also handsome from the front as you will see in a moment.

Froggy legs!

I have NO idea what I am doing in the studio. The whole concept baffles me, and I’m not totally sold on the idea, but I have a little bit more experimenting to do before writing it off entirely. Here I had some weird color balance issues, which you can see in the next pair, which I actually think are a bit of a happy accident color-wise (FYI: the seamless paper was a deep smoky blue). 

Oh Henry you are so handsome. Not as handsome as Frank, but close. :-)

More studio shots soon. Hope everyone is staying warm out there! Fergie is LOVING our snow!

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Behind-the-Scenes | Also tagged , , | Comments (4)
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