What equipment should I use?
Rofu
I'm writing for some input on what equipment I would need for on
location pet/animal photography. I would like to travel light.
Thanks much.
Ro
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inside , the aminals , lighting , money u have , prefessinal or happy snaps
? ,,,, all this info helps !
Hope i can help in the n.future !
Carl
"Rofu" <FrzFr...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:d3c7be70.02120...@posting.google.com...
Mike Jordan
About as light as you are going to get is just taking a camera
and use what ever natural light and background you find.
Are you looking to do formal style portraits or casual style? Is it
at dog shows or at people's houses? How much experience do you have
with lighting, reflectors, flash, and whatever camera you will be
using? I do on-location dog photography, both at people's homes and
at dog shows. At dog shows I pretty much use my camera and a couple
of different lenses and that's it. At the homes I'll take my studio
lights, backgrounds, umbrella and softboxes as well. I might not
use it all, but I take it with me.
Mike
--
Hillsboro, Oregon
Bouvier des Flandres - Herding & Working Dogs
http://www.europa.com/~mjordan - Pictures & Info on Bouviers
http://www.sitnprettyphoto.com - New Web site of Photos
Rofu
> Rofu wrote:
> > Hello,
> > I'm writing for some input on what equipment I would need for on
> > location pet/animal photography. I would like to travel light.
> > Thanks much.
>
> About as light as you are going to get is just taking a camera
> and use what ever natural light and background you find.
>
> Are you looking to do formal style portraits or casual style? Is it
> at dog shows or at people's houses? How much experience do you have
> with lighting, reflectors, flash, and whatever camera you will be
> using? I do on-location dog photography, both at people's homes and
> at dog shows. At dog shows I pretty much use my camera and a couple
> of different lenses and that's it. At the homes I'll take my studio
> lights, backgrounds, umbrella and softboxes as well. I might not
> use it all, but I take it with me.
>
> Mike
Mike,
I plan on doing the same as what you're talking about. Casual, in
home and outdoors. I have experience with studio lighting,etc...but
it's with the large and medium format camera. Is there a big
difference if I used my 35mm? I'm still a student until next June.
By the way, how did you get into doing dog shows? This is something
I've been trying to do for a while, but haven't gotten any info back
from the AKC.
Thanks for any info,
Ro
Mike Jordan
> Mike,
> I plan on doing the same as what you're talking about. Casual, in
> home and outdoors. I have experience with studio lighting,etc...but
> it's with the large and medium format camera. Is there a big
> difference if I used my 35mm? I'm still a student until next June.
> By the way, how did you get into doing dog shows? This is something
> I've been trying to do for a while, but haven't gotten any info back
> from the AKC.
> Thanks for any info,
> Ro
I have not done a lot of dog portrait work at people's homes
yet because I found it a little more difficult than I expected.
Some of the problems I've run into is space. Several of the house
didn't have the space to set up my lights easily. One I had to take
some in the house and then some in the garage. Another had those
real steep ceilings and the only good place was on the second floor.
I had room for my lights, but they had to be closer than I liked
and it didn't leave a lot of room for me to shoot. I had to have one
of the people there hold a gobo between my camera and the light to
my right or I would have gotten lens flare.
My other idea was that since I shoot a D30 and everyone is on
the internet, I just put the images up on my web site and they can
view them and place their order. Wrong. The first two people
didn't have computers at home. So I had to burn a CD and print a
contact sheet for them to choose from. Luckily this was a trial run
of a limited dog portrait special I put in a local club newsletter.
So once it expired I didn't get any more calls and I'm able to
re-think how I want to do this. I could use flash rather than my
mono-lights, but the mono-lights and softboxes give me so much more
control (when I can use them properly) than my flash does. I've been
busy this summer with dog shows so I've not pursued doing in home
portraits yet. I do want to start advertising again though now that
I've had time to consider a few things.
With dog shows, you just go and start taking pictures. The AKC
doesn't have anything to do with it. There are basically 3 types of
photographers at dog shows.
1. There is the "Official" show photographer that the club that is
sponsoring the show, hires. He takes all the winners pictures after
each class is done. He usually has a background and lights set up
near the rings that those that placed go to afterwards. He gets
paid (usually) by the club for providing them with pictures that
they put into the different newsletters and publications. He also
gets paid by the winners for prints that they buy from him.
2. If the show is big enough to attract vendors, there is usually
one or more photographers that have set up in the vendor area. They
have their lights and backgrounds and will photograph anyone that
wants to pay them for the pictures. Most of these have gone digital
and the people can pick what pictures they want right after they are
taken. Some have printers there and will have them printed off by
later that day. They pay the sponsoring club for the vendor space,
just like the other vendors do and make their money from sales of
portraits at the show.
3. Sometimes there will be one or more photographers that take
pictures during the show. I've seen them mostly at agility and
rarely at others, like conformation and obedience. They take
pictures during the actual show, for instance, as the dogs run in
agility. They then run to one of the 1 hour labs and have their
film developed and 5x7's printed. They then come back and place the
pictures on a table near the rings and people will look through them
and if they like the picture pay $5 or so for it. Sometimes if it's
a good one they will order an 8x10 for about $15 or $20, but if it's
an indoor show, 5x7 is about as good as they will go. These
photographers do not compete with the vendor or show photographers
and usually are not there unless it's a big show with lots of
entrants. There have been times when one of the vendor
photographers will also take ring side shots and provide those for
sale as well.
There is actually a 4th type of photographer. That is someone like
me. I go to the shows and take lots of pictures, usually trying to
cover all the areas that nobody else does. I don't sale pictures at
the show and if I happen to take a picture of a person or dog that a
working photographer has taken I will give him first chance to make
his money. Usually there is no conflict and I always talk with any
working photographer to let them know I'm not competing with them
and if I'm in their way to let me know so I can move. I have never
had a problem with any of them and usually we have a good chat
between shots about how they are doing and what I'm doing etc. I am
not after the small $5 sales that some of these people go after. I
am there to take pictures that most people never get an opportunity
to get of them and their dogs. Usually I have pictures that sale
for a bit more after the fact. For instance at our big National
Specialty that we had in Oct back in Springfield, Ohio, I took over
2100 pictures during the week of the show. This included two days
of agility, two days of conformation and obedience and 3 days of
sheep herding. My main goal was to get recognized by a lot of the
club groups and more popular individuals. I have to say that with
the number of pictures I took and those that I provided to club
editors for their newsletters as well as those I sold prints and CDs
to, that I exceeded my goal by a wide margin. While I didn't pay
for the trip, I have set myself up for next year and have already
been contacted about taking pictures of specific dogs and events.
This will all be on a per person arrangement, which means I should
be able to make more from the sale than I would normally get for a
picture or two.
So the key for shows, is to get known by the people. It is slow at
first. It helps if you are a member of a club. As a club member,
people will get to know you faster and you will get a few breaks
that someone just coming to the shows won't get. Also, you want to
show your work. I got a number of my first sales because I did free
pictures for some of the club social butterfly's. All clubs have
them, people that everyone knows and who everyone listens too. If
they are happy with your work, they are worth their weight in
proofs. <grin>
Are you part of any clubs now? Do you have any specific breed that
you are interested in starting with? Because we raise Bouviers we
are part of the local Bouvier club as well as the regional and
national clubs. This will be a good place to start. Then you will
want to go to as many shows as you can. The AKC web site has a
calendar of events that will tell you what shows are scheduled for
your area. When you go to the shows, stop by the club that is
sponsoring or putting it on and pick up some club material,
including board names and e-mail addresses and find out who the club
editor is. I always send in pictures to the club editor and they
have always been printed. Just make sure they get the photo credits
right, with your e-mail and web site address. At the all breed
shows, find out the same info for the clubs of the different breeds.
Then do the same thing. If your pictures are good and you do this
enough, your name will get known.
One word of advice. If you don't know what is and isn't allowed at
the shows, find out first. For instance, in most cases, flash is
not allowed indoors. You will see people using flash, but these are
usually the owners of the dogs and it's ok if they throw their own
dog off when it's competing. But if you, as an outsider do it, you
could get asked to leave or at the least, you won't make any
friends. It's very important that you do not disturb any of the
competing dogs. I've only made one mistake so far, I got too close
to a fence during a herding competition and I was asked to move
back... by someone with a very loud voice too. <grin> Some places
are not as picky about stuff like that, but find out first before
you assume.
And if there are working photographers at the show, it never hurts
to go introduce yourself and talk with them for a minute... when
they aren't busy of course. I've heard that there are some out
there that just aren't friendly to another photographer, but I've
not run into that yet. But if you can get to know one or two, they
can be worth their weight in CF cards.
I hope some of the above information helps. Mostly you just have to
get out there and take pictures, show your work and get noticed.
And have fun. If you can't make money, it's twice as bad if you
can't at least have fun.
Good luck. And I'll be glad to answer any questions I can.