A Suitable Model

Yesterday afternoon UPS dropped off a new backdrop to the house. When I got home and found it waiting, I was anxious to give it a try. Usually I have a daughter or two around to assist me by sitting in as a model, but this time it was just me and the two dogs.

My first thought was to use the smarter of the pair, our Border Collie Ziggy. As it turned out though, this intelligence told him that sitting on a chair in front of a camera was not worth a nibble of cheese. That left me with Holly, the Shorthaired Pointer. She was more than willing to plant her furry backside on a chair and allow me to take a few shots in hope of receiving a piece of cheese.

The lighting on this image is very simple. I placed a small softbox just to the right of the camera. Fill lighting was provided by the light reflecting off of white blinds to the camera's left. I set the light's power level low enough so that I could shoot wide open at f/4 to minimize the depth of field. I also shot at the lens' full reach of 105mm to further accentuate the shallow focus. In processing, I opted to go with a sepia tone effect because I felt it worked well in creating a uniform tone to the image (here's the color version).

At the end of our short photo shoot, Holly was extremely happy for two reasons. The first was being allowed to get off of the chair. And secondly, she finally got the cheese she had been intently watching.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/30 second, f/4, ISO 50