He’s all grown up but Sala is still injury prone! He runs
around the backyard like crazy, patrolling our fence line. He loves being
outside and goes out for about 6 hours a day. He’s in great shape from so much
exercise, but he’s constantly running into things and getting cuts and scrapes.
He broke off his dew claw a few days before this portrait and we were on the
way to have the bandage removed at the vet’s office when I thought it would be
a fitting time to make his portrait. It’s fitting because being injured and
playing though injury is a major part of his character. We found this crazy pup
in the Piney Woods outside of Nacogdoches TX and he’s grown into a strapping
young man! We’re happy we found him and adopted him, he brings a lot of joy to
our family, even if his name does technically mean “Moron” in Hindi.
Beautiful, timeless studio portraits are a specialty of mine.
I’ve put in countless hours of study and practice to truly understand the art
of portraiture and I am constantly pushing to get better and evolve. When you
book a portrait sitting with me you aren’t just getting me for the few hours
that we’re together, you’re getting everything that I’ve put into my craft, culminating
with my best performance to date, at your sitting. Let me put my passion into
your next portrait, visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com for more information.
Tips for photographers: Well there is a lot of different
lighting going on here. The first two portraits are a 3 light setup, with the
key light a large soft box in front of and above my pup. You can see the
catchlight in the top of the eyes. The bottom catchlight is created by a silver
reflector on the floor in front of Sala. The other two lights are two kickers
from the back on both left and right sides to create some edge lighting around
Sala and help his dark fur separate from the black background. Both of the
kicker lights are bare strobes with the standard 7-inch silver reflector on
them, and are about two feet higher than Sala’s head, which is probably too
high but the stands were at their lowest and I was too lazy to switch out for
smaller stands. We had a vet appointment to make after all.
The third portrait is lit with a window to the camera right
of Sala and few feet behind him. There is also a silver reflector camera left
to reflect some window light back on to Sala’s face. The catchlight you see in
his eye is the window. The fourth portrait is lit from behind with the window
that has a piece of white diffusion fabric over it. Just behind me on both
sides of the camera are two 8 foot high white reflectors as well as the small
silver reflector camera right. It’s amazing how much you can do with a window!
