A Dog Shopping

As a student at Fanshawe College we are given prompts for our major assignments and we must meet the requirements to achieve full marks. For my Project C assignment (aka my final). I originally had picked motion at night for my assignment. However, the model I had working on this project with me completely flaked for the second attempt of the assignment (for this assignment we had to shoot it twice).

So, last minute with two days till the deadline, I had to make the executive decision to pivot and resort the the back-up plan. I discussed the potential of this happening with my professor (Due to the weather, not due to a MIA model). My back up was to do unnatural element. So, once again I had to brain storm what I wanted to shoot for this now last minute project. I had to somehow make it come to life with very little time to spare. Since moving a few weeks ago (Right at the end of this term) I no longer have access to the same benefits the city had to offer however, I have the small town living advantage on my side.

I reached out to a local friend and layed out my idea. He agreed to the idea, now all that was left was finding a location. I called a few places in town and some said "No" or were not available so, I only had a few options left. Thankfully a grocery store in town said "Yes". The store being a larger corporation just asked that I remove identifying logos, and branding, So I did. It took a lot of work to remove all of those things but, it made the image stronger and it gave me more confidence in my editing abilities. Honestly, this whole experience helped me improve on my photoshopping skills (and my problem solving skills).

Speaking of photoshop, The photo I took in the store was just of my friend (the store was not pet friendly). So, that meant I had to find a way to match the lighting at home to make it as similar to the lighting at the store as possible. This was to ensure that they both have the same grain and make the colour grading easier. I turned on my living room LED light and it was very smililar to the over head lighting at the store but, it was missing a bit of yellowish light. This was when I had to pause and think of a way to add some yellow lighting to the current lighting set up. Sitting on the floor looking around the room I realized if I were to use my studio light and just use the light from the modeling bulb it would be the right height, and add that little tinge of yellow I needed.

Now that I had my two images, I got to work piecing them together. I have been practicing photoshop for a few years now through self study and YouTube tutorials. I knew this was going to be a little bit of a struggle. Thankfully, I realized that I knew alot more then I thought going into this editing process. It was fairly easy after the first attempt edit and the techniques I tried out in the first image of this project. The production class (Photoshop class) that my one Professor taught this term really helped me understand how to manipulate lighting, and blend images together for a more seamless cohesive image.

And that Is how I ended up with the image below: A Dog Shopping!

A huge thanks to my friend and the grocery store here in town, for coming in last minute two days in a row to save my final project. I'd also like to thank my studio loving pup Reigns for making this so easy. These three factors together really made this image come to life Very, Very, Very quickly.

Thank you for reading,

Kenzie Lavalliere

Owner / Lead Photographer

Rexton Studio Co.