Gary Bernstein Quick Tip :

The Tiffany and American Express TIP

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Approximately 50% of American households have a dog. That dog is more important than any of our kids – we all know it ;). I’m kidding – I think I’m kidding.

So….

Ask your next portrait client – with children - to bring the family dog. If they agree, you can always do a shot like the one below (or a thousand other variations and with other family members as well). What parent wouldn’t buy this shot for the wall? It’s a rhetorical question.

REMEMBER: YOU CAN’T SELL IT IF YOU DON’T SHOOT IT!

This photograph of one of our daughters with one of our many doggies, was shot against a Denny Solid White Background and made with one light directly above the camera in a 30-inch umbrella. I have always required solid white and solid gray backgrounds – whether in the studio or on location – even outside; so I carry them with me always.

We’ll finish with another pet shot; this photograph was for two commercial clients, the American Express Company and Tiffany.

The leopard is absolutely real (just ask my wife, Lena Harris, who had to control the little guy, endure the pain, and still look beautiful). We alternated between a leopard and a lion cub – because they each have an attention span of 10 seconds before they started eating Lena’s skin!

Yes, ladies, the necklace on the little guy is worth about $150,000.

I shifted the color of the print to a slight sepia. It was made with 3 lights.

For full details and to see the lighting diagram for the American Express shot, see Page 102 of my book, The Glamorous World of People Photography.

To see how you can secure commercials clients – there are chapters on that subject in each of my books.