Photographing dogs and Improvising

Recently, I was asked to do a shoot for a lady I know.  It was her, her significant other, and her dogs.  Oh and one of the dogs is a very energetic 9 week old boxer pup.  Cute!  The weather started out as overcast and icky, and she wanted to shoot indoors in her living room.  Well, most who know me know I deal mainly with natural light and I don't have studio lighting.  What to do... what to do...  I improvised.    I made a soft box in about 15 minutes with materials I had around the house.   I didn't want to use a flash because of the pup and because of "demon eyes", so I made a much larger box to use with a regular light.   It worked beautifully in my home test.  Well, I ended up not having to use it because as I got to her house the clouds parted, the beautiful sun came out and I had the most beautiful light to work with through her large living room windows.  (If I had not made it, I'm sure the sky would have managed to be even darker...  you know how that goes.)  The photo shoot was fun and high energy.  I haven't laughed that much on a shoot before...  the dogs' antics gave me several great "outtakes" to chuckle at while editing.   All in all a great shoot....   and if I do say so myself, some great improvising.  I think I'll keep it and use it for dramatic lighting in my conceptual work.    Remember,  photography doesn't always require the most expensive gear.  You can always improvise!  



Here are some images of my homemade soft box.  Please excuse my mess in the first pic...  I had all of my Christmas goodies dragged out for decorating!