Anatomy of a Shoot – Fun with the Family
Setting Up the Job
BEFORE THEY ALL arrived, I had visions of the pictures I’d like to create. This isn’t necessarily my usual way of working: I love the excitement – or possibly the stress – of reacting to whoever, and whatever, greets me as I open the studio door. However, this was my second shoot with the guys, so I had the opportunity of looking back at the previous session and thinking about what I’d like to do differently.
Of course, I should have known better, as my pre-visualisations were immediately tempered – make that blown out of the water – by the reality of six small and energetic dogs and one small boy squeezed into the confines of a relatively compact photographic studio! Luckily, Emma and Tobias were skilled dog whisperers; whenever I needed the dogs lined up, they could immediately achieve it – even if just momentarily – by giving the command they always give when they feed them all together. And, of course, it wouldn’t have been the same without some outfits for the dogs to wear, so out came a massive bag of bow-ties!
The shots were achieved relatively quickly, thanks to the dog-handling skills on display and the way the lighting came together. Do you ever have one of those days when the lighting just seems to work? I’m a lighting fanatic – I love the process and creativity of it – yet sometimes even I am surprised by how it can vary shoot-to-shoot, or sometimes even shot-to-shot, even with the same kit and techniques being employed.
This was one of those days where everything just popped effortlessly and, before I knew it, the major shots were in the bag. However, there was one particular image I’d been visualising in my pre-planning, and I figured there would be no harm giving it a go.
THE FAMILY TOGETHER
What I had in mind was an old-school layered portrait, something that’s usually reserved for family groups where a side view of each face is captured individually and then composited – usually on a black background – to look like the entire family was together in a single frame. It’s one complete and finished portrait, the whole being pieced together from multiple single captures.
As this shoot approached, I thought a variant of this might be fun, with the six dogs surrounding the little boy, situated in pride of place in the middle of the pack. And, as it turned out, this image managed to encompass the entire family perfectly. As a bonus it was also a great way to go when you happen to be dealing with multiple (lively) subjects, as you can take a breath and fully concentrate on just one person – or animal – at a time.
My preferred lighting for this set-up was a combination of rim-light from two big strip boxes left and right, together with an additional gridded softbox serving as a key light, which was placed at about 20 degrees behind the subject. The key light serves to pick out just enough of the mask of the face, while the strip boxes outline the head and body, and I adjusted the power of the three lights to create the look I was after.
Once set, the lighting has to remain constant for each portrait, which helps to ensure that the final image looks coherent. I hate seeing a composite that comes across as glaringly obvious, thanks to the different lighting that’s been employed on each subject. No excuses, people, no excuses.
I used a black paper backdrop – black velvet would also have done the job – to create a dark background, which, along with the rim lighting, helped at the cut outs and compositing stage. As well as consistent lighting, each character’s eye line, essentially where they’re looking, needs to be coherent for the composite to work. To do this, Tobias sat in line with the lighting, holding a treat in the same position for each dog so that they looked in exactly he direction I wanted. This trick only worked for the canines by the way – kids are less predictable!
I captured a variation of images for each so that I could – to a limited degree at least – pick and choose the individual shots I needed for the final edit.
