UGGIE - "THE ARTIST"

By Hernan Rodriguez

I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH YOU ONE OF THE CHAPTERS OF MY NEW UPCOMING BOOK, "75 PORTRAITS by Hernan". THANKS TO AMHERST MEDIA. THIS PARTICULAR DIAGRAM IS OF UGGIE THE DOG.

One of the most exciting things about being based in Los Angeles area, for me, is the opportunity to work with celebrities. When the phone rings or I’m checking my emails, I never know what celebrity I will be shooting next. Uggie was my first canine “star.” Uggie is most remembered for his role in the Academy Award winning film “The Artist.” He came prepared for his publicity shoot with his honorary “Oscar“. Not bad for a dog!!

These images showcased, were created for Uggi’s book. We did a series of three different looks. One image I really wanted to capture, was a classic portrait of Uggi, to be able to convert into black and white. Similar to the style and time period of the movie he starred. For such an image, I tend to keep the background simple and clean. I used a thunder grey seamless paper roll set four feet behind Uggi. I also needed a platform for Uggi, so we used a variety of set chairs. Both short and tall. Contrast was not an issue, being that Uggi is white. In approaching my lighting setup, I also needed the latitude to allow Uggi to move freely, without missing the light. I created a set that would wrap light completely around Uggi.

For my keylight, I used a large 30” beauty dish with a grid, and on some of the shots created, I taped black gaffer tape around the edges, to narrow my light. I often use this technique as well as black cinefoil around the perimeter of my beauty dish, to shape my light. I placed this light overhead at a high angle to create shadows. My keylight metered F11. For my fill light, I used a combination of two lights. The first was a 36” silver umbrella, set at 90 degrees to camera right. This light was feathered across Uggi. Since Uggi’s coat is white, placing my light forward, would flatten my lighting. This light metered F5.6. The combination of my key and fill, kept depth to the final image. My second fill was an on-camera ring flash. This light was used as weak fill if needed. It metered F4. One small 12”x18” softbox was placed directly over Uggi’s right side and just two feet behind. This light was metered equal to the keylight. It added just the right amount of soft highlights as accent. I also used a flash head equipped with a 20 degree grid, for added highlights, set to Uggi’s left side, 3 feet behind. This light metered 1/2 over the keylight. One last light was a flash head with a 30 degree grid, placed four feet in front of the background. This light was 1/2 brighter than the keylight as well. My final exposure was 200^th of a second at F11. ISO 100.

HERE IS A QUICK VIDEO OF UGGIE'S BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTO-SESSION.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6WduC3xZ1PE