Lessons
Class Introduction
05:49 2Prepping for Puppy Photo Shoot
04:28 3Cavalier: Puppy Awake in Basket
07:27 4Cavalier: Puppy on Floor Laying on Muslin
06:24 5Cavalier: Puppy in Posing Bag
04:15 6Cavalier: Puppy in Wood Bowl
05:16 7Cavalier: Two Puppies on Posing Bag
08:50 8Cavalier: Puppy in Purple Fabric
05:16Lesson Info
Class Introduction
Hi, I'm Kelly Brown and this is Jade Schofield. We've been working on an incredible project, photographing newborn puppies to make a beautiful book. We have two litters of puppies coming into the studio that are five weeks old, and it's gonna be great fun. It is, it's gonna be lots of fun. We're gonna show you how we prepare for a studio shoot, and we're gonna talk lots about safety and why it's so important when photographing puppies this age. We're also gonna talk about our setups, the styling, using props, and incorporating different elements to create beautiful photographs. And we're gonna show you our lighting setups and why and then also talk about camera angles. It's going to be lots of fun. And then we're gonna show you our incredible book. And this, I tell you, it is pretty amazing, and we're extremely proud of it. So we have just had a beautiful litter of puppies arrive. They are almost six weeks old. Little cavaliers. And we're gonna take you through that process of what...
happens when our puppies arrive. And, as you can see, they've got lots of energy, they're playing, they're biting each other and running around. And when we're photographing them, we really want them to sort of be a little bit more relaxed, so they sit still 'cause puppies have lots of energy. So what we do is we get them out, we start letting them smell us, get used to us, become sort of familiar with the environment that they're in, and kinda wear them out a little bit. So this is the fun part of it. Well, the whole session's pretty fun, but this is where we get to play with them and interact with them and get them nice and familiar with us and see how their little personalities kind of react to us, which is really cute, so let's get 'em out, Jadie. Yes. We have two boys and two girls. Come on (laughing). Come on, this way. Take this one. (laughing) Hey, hello. Yeah, hello. So they have been fed, we do a lot of talking (laughs), talking with the owner to figure out, you know their feed times, how often they still feed with their mom and when they start solid food. So they've just been fed, which is perfect. So, like a newborn shoot, we like to start the shoot with nice full tummies, hello. Their tale's wiggling. You're biting me feet, ow! (laughing) And we just kind of wear them out a little bit, see what they're happy with and you can see they've got so much energy. So if this continues on, what we'll do is we'll sort of set them up together and we'll photograph them awake but as you can imagine trying to keep them all in a one spot at this age is kind of tricky. That's hurting. (laughing) You like my feet. So yeah, I'm just gonna take your pants this way (laughs). And here comes our beautiful mom Melanie, so she's gonna check on them, hi. Now I always let them smell me and become familiar and let her know that we're actually not doing anything to hurt her babies. (tapping fingers) Hey. My turn, my turn. All right, so, while we're sort of sitting here and playing with them we talk a little bit about some of the safety aspects and how we get prepared for our shoot. Prior to the shoot we have to make sure that everything has been sterilized because these little puppies at this age they haven't had their vaccinations so if they were to come in contact with another dog that was carrying a virus then all of these little ones would become very very sick and potentially die so it's very important that we understand all of those aspects and sterilizing goes right through to everything that the puppies come in contact with. The floor, us, we make sure that our hands are washed and we have hand sanitizer on (laughs). And we have lots of little accidents which is okay and so we'll grab a towel. That's hurting (laughs). And then when it comes to handling them, you can see they're so busy but we have to make sure that they're obviously you know nice and safe so we don't put them on top of any high objects, we always go down, nice and low to the ground and work with them down here. I'll just grab a towel. (laughing) There we go, and make sure that we're using props and things like that as well that are nice and safe. So, you know, some objects that are nice and strong, you know they're not gonna tip over and fall out of anything and yeah, so we tend to keep it really simple when we're photographing them, we have like a small beanbag here and then we just got some fabric that's gonna go over the top so we usually sort of put them up here, we use wraps to sort of help hold them into position 'cause they're a little different to humans and then we use a couple of different little props and style them that way. But our inspiration comes from photographing human babies and you know, with people being so in love with puppies we thought, why not start this incredible project?
Ratings and Reviews
Paula Ayers
I am not a photographer. I do compositing using Photoshop and was interested in seeing how they set up and pose such lively subjects. Such care was taken with the puppies and I learned a lot about getting just the right poses using different setups like muslin, bowls, etc. For compositing, it's important to know what you are looking for in order to bring images together correctly. This course, besides being fun to watch, has helped me, even if my images don't wiggle as much as these puppies.
user-2f5d81
I loved everything about this class!! It was so obvious by the handling and the way you interacted with the puppies how much care and thought goes into the artwork you created. I'm so excited to put all of your ideas into my own creativity. Thank you for providing me with the inspiration to move forward with pet photography!