Episode 8: Benji goes Downtown
Meet Benji - a handsome Staffy/Collie rescue dog. Benji has a rather impressive resume in dog sports, so we simply couldn’t pass up capturing him in action before taking him downtown.
His awesome willing-to-please temperament made it possible to work with him quickly, making good use of all the cute spots we found to shoot in this quaint little mountain-top village.
Towards the end of the session, the light was fading quickly. This provided the perfect opportunity to bring out my secret weapon. Join me in this 43 minute episode to discover what it is, and how I use it!
Watch the Teaser...
"I truly loved this episode. You provided many additions using surroundings for composition. I am also beginning to truly understand the advantage of using several different lenses during a session to achieve a variety of images. And I LOVED the intro to your secret weapon! Once again, you went over the top on your teachings. "
Cris Skinner
USA
What you'll learn in this episode
- How to work with changing light when shooting action
- Why patience is a pet photographer's best friend
- How to let your doggy model guide you when it's time to move on
- When to shoot in urban areas and why choosing the right day and time is so important
- What to look for when choosing spots to photograph dogs in urban settings
- Which lens is the most useful when working in visually busy areas
- The one behaviour you can train during the shoot to allow you to work super fast
- How angle of view relates to focal length, and why it's so important to keep in mind
- The number one thing to do when you start losing the light early
- What to do when natural light just isn't enough (includes instructions for using my secret weapon!)
Editing Tutorial 1: Background Person Removal
The editing tutorial is 35 minutes long. It covers how to remove a person from the background of an action shot when they are directly behind the dog, using an amazing new tool in Photoshop. Plus there's some tips on correcting that annoying green colour casts from shooting on grass.
What you'll learn
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How to choose the very best action shot from a sequence
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Tips for setting white balance using a handy Lightroom tool hidden in plain sight
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The easiest and quickest way to remove a person from the background - when they're directly behind your subject!
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Distracting or not? That out-of-focus toy in the foreground!
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How to add a little extra warmth and sparkle to the background to justify a blown-out section of sky
"This episode is the best for people, like me, who struggle with removing people from the background. Benji is such a beautiful dog!"
Deise Oliveira
Brazil
Editing Tutorial 2: Pet Eye, Noise and Printing
The editing tutorial is 36 minutes long. In it, I share some tips on dealing with glowing pet eyes in images where extra lighting has been used. Then we look at dealing with high ISO noisy images, finding a good balance between noise and sharpness. Finally, we prepare and export images for print from both Lightroom and Photoshop.
What you'll learn
- How to improve your editing by omitting outlying tones
- The best way to fix glowing pet eyes in Lightroom
- Lightroom vs Photoshop showdown for reducing noise and sharpening
- Efficiently exporting images for print from Lightroom
- How to create the perfect printing file for a gallery wrapped canvas in Photoshop
In every RealShoots episode you get
Shooting Video
A two-hour, real-life dog photography shoot professionally edited down to around the length of a TV episode. Watch anytime, anywhere. No deadlines. No pressure. Tons of value.
Learning Guide
A downloadable companion learning guide to summarise and expand on the video content. Includes handy tips, images with full settings, some with behind the scenes photos.
Daily Tips
Optionally subscribe to the daily tip series accompanying the episode. Bite sized ways to improve your pet photography – delivered daily so you can read and absorb straight away.
Client Gallery
Exclusive access to the full client image gallery. See the actual results of the shoot in high quality, just as the client would see them.
Editing Tutorials
Comprehensive editing tutorials. Watch a complete image edit using professional Adobe photo editing software - Lightroom and Photoshop.
RAW Files
Download the RAW image files used in the editing tutorials so you can play along at home, while watching the editing videos. Nothing better than learning by doing!
Fun Quiz
A challenging and super fun quiz to test your knowledge and keep you on your toes! Download the Cheat Sheet for full explanations of the answers.
Discussion Areas
Ask questions about the training and interact with other students. No such thing as a silly question here - and all are answered personally by Charlotte!
