No matter what I do, he appears to be either a black smudge or the flash bounces off his shiny fur!. What can I do to take a decent photo of my cat!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
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Position:Home>Visual Arts> How can I photograph my black cat better?Question: How can I photograph my black cat better!? No matter what I do, he appears to be either a black smudge or the flash bounces off his shiny fur!. What can I do to take a decent photo of my cat!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Might be a little much for a picture of a cat, but have you tried lighting him from the front as well as behind!? A light behind him would give him a little more "pop" off the background, I reckon!. also, I believe someone else already mentioned natural light!. Natural light > most everything else!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Well, if I were attempting "professional" shots of a black cat I'd probably go with a 3-point lighting!. One of the more important aspects of this system would be the back light, also known as a hair light or rim light!. You might try finding a way to get the sun behind him in the morning or evening to give a rim effect, then fill in with a little flash to illuminate the front!.Www@QuestionHome@Com depends on what kind/quality of your camera is!. if he's turning into a black smudge, try some better, maybe more natural lighting without using the flash!. if that doesn't work, and the flash remains too bright in good lighting, try taking the photo from a distance and zooming in then taking the picture with a flash!. the fur won't be exposed to so much light then and your cat probably won't end up looking like a lightbulb :)Www@QuestionHome@Com Use a gray card and have your built in light meter expose on that and then the black cat will appear black!. Your camera wants to expose everything at 18% gray- which is usually correct except for situations like black cats and bright white snow!. also try taking the photo w/o the flash!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I had the same trouble photographing my cats!.!.!.though neither is pure black!. What worked for me was taking the pictures in natural lighting!. I sat outside in the garden, with my camera, and took pictures from there!. I also took some indoors!. I took the curtains right off my windows and turned on my floor lamps and overhead!. the pictures came out well!. also, a ,ighter colored background for a pure black cat!. Maybe set up a nice piece of light clored cloth on the couch and let him settle on it!? I hope you get a photographers answer to this!. Mine was just a "home remedy"!.!.!.but it worked!. Good Luck!Www@QuestionHome@Com Photograph him in different lighting, try taking a picture during different hours through the day, try morning when theres little light or at night when theres no light, try different places too, out side in side, play around with your camera and the flash also!.Www@QuestionHome@Com cross lighting (2 lights 45 degrees angle on either sides) is best for black fur!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I had the same problem with my Flat-coated Retriever, her black fur really made it difficult to get a good photograph!. One method that usually works is to focus and expose for the eyes, especially in a tight crop of the face!. While this may leave the rest of the cat underexposed, the eyes tend to be the most important part of the portrait!. I do agree with the others that nixing the flash may be for the best, an on-camera flash rarely yields superb results unless you're visualizing a specific style!. If your flash is off-camera or can be bounced, that's a different story!. Another option may be to use his shiny fur to your advantage!. This will be much more stylized than your average pet portrait, but it can also be more interesting!. If you can set your cat against a black background, a very bright light side light can be used to give a contrasty black-and-white photo!. In this situation, I used 5yrd x 3 yrd black felt from a fabric store for $25, as well as two 500watt to 750watt worker's lamps!. The lamps can be found at any hardware store, and mine were something like $9 each!. Chances are, you may may have one of these already, so always look before running to the store!. Anyways, I used the lamps to light my dog from the side, and then underexposed the shot by 2 stops (-2 EV)!. You may not need to underexposed by that much, my camera generally overexposes slightly as is, but the goal is to get the highlights to show detail while the rest of subject stays black!. Exposing for the eyes is still recommended, as the eyes will usually be the focus of the subject!. Make sure that your white balance is set to "Tungsten" (or incandescent, both of which are designated by a lightbulb icon), as this is the closest to the "Color" of the worker's lamps!. also, keep in mind that the lamps get extremely hot and can easily burn you, your cat, and anything else around it if it comes in contact with the lamp!. Finally, leave the flash off if you're going to be side-lighting, you may need a tripod or some sturdy platform, as the scene may take a bit longer than usual to expose!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |