B&A Dogs, Leashes & Mud on white!

[Jim Poor]

I'm a huge proponent of "get it right in camera," however, sometimes subjects, weather and other events conspire to thwart those efforts.

In this sitting, I had three dogs and only one of them was fairly calm and trained well enough to sit for a few seconds. That meant the dogs went on-leash, and when you have that much going on, hiding them doesn't always work.

To make things even more complicated, I was using white seamless paper in warehouse with a dirty floor, it was muddy outside and with all the people needed on set to control the subjects, I ended up with people in front of my lights blocking them from the subjects.


All is not lost though.

Before:


After:


Tips:
Every time I do a shoot, I make several images of my set (in the case of holidays) or backdrop from various angles. That way I have a "clean" reference made in the lighting conditions of the shoot that is easy to drop in if needed.

There is almost zero cloning in the after version. Mostly I used bits and pieces of the real dog to cover the leashes. I used the techniques in Robert O'Tooles Advanced Phtotoshop Techniques and Tips (APTATS) which are mine to disclose publicly, but you can learn more here: http://www.aptats.com/

For getting rid of the dirty footprints and such, I put the clean background behind the dirty one and masked out the gunk, retaining most of the contact shadows so the dogs wouldn't appear to be floating in space. I'll be the first to point out that there is a bit of work left to be done on this, but for a small proof preview, it will suffice and then I'll finish it if ordered as a print.

Time involved: about 15 minutes including writing this post.

[ARKreations]

Nicely done!
If I didn't have the "before" for reference to know where to look, I wouldn't know that wasn't the actual shot.

[Murtasma]

Good job removing the people and leashes you can't tell at all. I think the ground however looks a little fake. I actually prefer the paw prints and change in contrast between the background and ground in the image.

Good work

[ttosifa]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

retaining most of the contact shadows so the dogs wouldn't appear to be floating in space.

Time involved: about 15 minutes including writing this post.

I know this only bugs me because you told us it was edited, and I might not have noticed otherwise. That and because I try to figure out the lighting of every picture I like. I doubt your clients will notice.

Anyway, the catchlights in the eyes and the shadows on the face indicate that your key light is up and to camera right. All but one of your shadows in the edited version go opposite the key light. The one that does not is near the belly of the small dog. In the original, however, there are very soft shadows going the proper direction from the key light in the lower left corner. To me, this makes the lower left corner look awkward, which might have been what Murtasma's eye saw (but I don't want to put words in his mouth).

Anyhoo, I learned long ago that my PS skills will forever be terrible in this area, so I admire your work!

[Jim Poor]

Yep, I know there is some shadow work to be done still to re-create the gentle curve of the backdrop a bit better.

The lighting was two S-800's through umbrellas. On on the right positioned just above waist high and one camera left about a foot over my head while standing (so about 7 feet up). I only put that one higher because I didn't want folks poking themselves on the umbrella spokes.

The part that really sticks out to me is the small dog's left foot. I need to rework that area completely.

Originally Posted by ttosifa

I know this only bugs me because you told us it was edited, and I might not have noticed otherwise. That and because I try to figure out the lighting of every picture I like. I doubt your clients will notice.

Anyway, the catchlights in the eyes and the shadows on the face indicate that your key light is up and to camera right. All but one of your shadows in the edited version go opposite the key light. The one that does not is near the belly of the small dog. In the original, however, there are very soft shadows going the proper direction from the key light in the lower left corner. To me, this makes the lower left corner look awkward, which might have been what Murtasma's eye saw (but I don't want to put words in his mouth).

Anyhoo, I learned long ago that my PS skills will forever be terrible in this area, so I admire your work!

[windrider86]

Great job in editing out the leashes! Not a big deal, but i think the paw prints give i character,
Do all 3 dogs belong to the same family? They are all sure handsome!

[Jim Poor]

Thanks.

Yes, all three belong to the same family. I did another session with three dogs, three kids and two parents as well. Turned out pretty nice, but I don't have release yet to show their faces.

If they choose this picture, I'll probably add a texture to the "floor" just to bring it back to a more realistic look. Most non-photographer/artists won't really notice, but it bugs me.

I'm not sure people would go for the paw/shoe prints hanging on their wall, but who knows, maybe I should give them option to leave them in.

On a related note, this shows the main reason that I really want to switch to vinyl rather than paper. A quick wipe with a rag between shoots and we would be good to go. Not to mention that if the paper gets wet (dogs and all ) it's toast.

Originally Posted by windrider86

Great job in editing out the leashes! Not a big deal, but i think the paw prints give i character,
Do all 3 dogs belong to the same family? They are all sure handsome!

[RoyL]

And try getting 3 dogs to sit and pose for you on a normal day

The little fellow looks almost lost amongst all those "real" dogs

And thats not dogprejudice because I have a furball.

Love the shot, especially the rottie.

[Glayva]

Absolutely brilliant!! As a recently retired professional, I can understand fully the difficulty. I have had 15 people in a studio shoot from, grandparents to babies, that needed very careful prompting and posing as well as, "I don't want my picture taken". It takes a real expert in people psychology to sometimes get a shot that everyone likes.