bdk wrote:
I was asked to come to a shelter and just shoot the black cats.
Im told they cant get a good pic of black cats, they say the never look good. They just use pop up flash on a point and shoot
so IM taking my soft box and the small softbox that fits my speedlight and im going to give it a try.
anyone have any suggestions on other lighting, positioning the lights etc...
and of course IM sure some of you will suggest heavy gloves, or bolting the equipment to the floor when the cat takes off from the flash...
I was asked to come to a shelter and just shoot th... (
show quote)
First, I didn't read all four pages of responses....
But, some of the early responses I saw are completely wrong... advising you to do just the opposite of what you should.
If you are using an auto exposure mode or manual relying upon the camera's meter for guidance, with a black object (be it a cat or anything else) you must STOP DOWN.... REDUCING EXPOSURE. This is because the reflective metering system will want to over-exposure a darker than average subject. If you are using auto exposure, you'll want to dial in some - (minus) Exposure Compensation.... how much depends upon the metering mode you're using and how much of the image area the black cat is filling. If it's spot metering and much of the image area is filled with cat, then I'd start with -1 stop and see how that looks (per the histogram). If the cat is less of the metered area, somewhat less E.C. might be needed. More if they occupy most or all the metered area.
If using manual exposure but still relying upon the camera's metering system, you need to make a similar reduction in exposure by stopping down or increasing shutter speed.
If using flash that's controlled TTL, you'll need to dial in Flash Exposure Compensation in the same way, reducing exposure via the flash. If using manual flash, well you'll just need to experiment and dial it down if needed.
The suggestion to use a gray card to determine exposure is a good one, either with or without flash. That would get you a more accurate setting, than metering directly off a black cat!
Almost certainly the reason the shelter is having trouble getting good photos of black cats is because their point n shoot camera is significantly overexposing the images.
Also watch your white balance. Black (and white) objects tend to show color tints particularly badly. If you use fill flash, mixed with ambient light, it can be pretty tricky... one side of the cat, primarily lit by the flash, will be around 6000K while the other side that's lit more by ambient light will be whatever color the ambient ligth happens to be (5000K daylight, 4200K shade, 3000K tungsten, 2400K fluorescent, etc., etc.) This can be a real nightmare to fix in post-processing. One "trick" is to use a gel filter over the flash to make it's output closer to the ambient light, but you need to figure that out first.
With flash you also have to watch out for "eyeshine" with animals, which is much like redeye in people (but differs in color with animals who see in different spectrums than us). Keep your flash well away from the lens axis, to reduce risk of eyeshine. Flash can be used "very small" (such as using the little bounce reflector built into some flashes) just to add a small catchlight to animals' eyes. That makes them look more alive and animated, than shots without any catchlight.
Bounced light, using a neutral pure white card or silver/gold reflector might be easier to use than flash, since it will rely upon the same ambient light. Your best bet would be to work outdoors in bright shade, but of course you need to keep cats contained, too.
Finally, black isn't really black... I'm friends with a big feral black cat, that when you see her in the sun has a lot of brown and auburn in her fur.
A black horse is just as challenging to shoot... and isn't really black!
Here I was lucky, the horse was standing in bright shade near a white painted wall which served well to bounce quite a bit of fill light. Also, the sand in this particular arena is highly reflective (which is what gives the warm tint to parts of the image).
Yes, you can get cats to "pose"! For some inspiration check out Richard's work at
http://www.chanan.com/Feline_Photography.html He's been one of the top cat photographers for three decades or more. You can see a lot of his work in Cat Fancy magazine and other publications. At cat shows, he sets up an 8 or 10 foot diameter tent with a posing stand, lighting gear, toys inside... then he, the cat and the cat's handler all go inside for the shoot. Keeps the critters from escaping
and away from all the distractions (such as 500 other cats!).