These are the three images that we shot to make the composite image of the dogs stealing the ham. Julene (My Wife) did all the retouching. She is a photo retoucher doing freelance works for advertising and entertainment clients across the country.
Her business is Morgan Photo Retouch and you can see her stuff at:
http://www.morganphotoretouch.com/
Back to the image. We used our family dogs in the shot. It’s just easier to get them to cooperate and do what is needed. They have been photographed so many times that they don’t mind being positioned and staying there for 30 seconds. I feel it’s the least they can do for room, board and all the chew toys they can destroy. I have to work all day why should they get off so easy. It worked for Wegman. I wonder if one day Wegman will get a call from a crazed lawyer representing a disgruntled Weimaraner wanting usage rights. Just a thought.
Image #1
We started with the small dog (Abby. Not that you really care.) that would be standing on the stool. We placed boxes to match the stool height and allowed her to stand there. Julene raised her paws up and placed them on the rack of the fridge. She just stayed there for several minutes while I shot away. Very lucky with her. The camera was locked down to make it easier to match the images when it came time to retouch them together.
Image #2
We held the ham in place to match the position of Abby’s feet and shot several images.
Image #3
Barney the cow colored Chihuahua was next holding the stool up. I drilled holes into the leg of the stool and shot screws into the hard wood floor to hold the stool in place. My wife was not happy about that. Nothing is sacred in our home. Actually I had laid much nicer hard wood down in front of our fridge and shot screws into that. There is something messed up about that as well. The nice stuff gets ruined. All for the shot. Barney simply stood there and placed his paws on the stool and stretched to reach the treat that I was holding on top of the stool. His already severely impaired manliness had to be retouched out. It was a bit too obvious from this angle.
Lighting
There were 3 lights, 4 if you count the ambient.
Light #1
I placed a strobe head in the fridge with a diffusion gel on it. It was flagged off the fridge wall by a piece of Black wrap.
(Black tin foil used to cut and flag Lights).
Light #2
Head with a reflector aimed into the ceiling above the dogs.
Light #3
Head with a reflector aimed down on the cook top in the background.
Light #4
Ambient exposure. I drug the shutter to allow enough light to fill the image from the windows in the room.
Camera
I shot this with a Canon 1DS at 1/2 second shutter speed at f11. I shot in raw so the image is large and I can process it in photoshop. This gives me complete control of the image in the post process.
