Golden Rule Loc: Washington State

I do a lot of pet photography on my own pets with created scenes. This year for Christmas cards I want to have my cat with Christmas lights around her. I want the lights to really pop but I don't want my cat to be lost in the low light. She is a black and white tuxedo cat so she could easily be too underexposed if I'm not careful. How would I go about setting up my two studio lights or how would I post process this type of scene so it looks like there is low light on her and the Christmas lights also light up the scene? I will have a dark green backdrop and floor with a small red Christmas tree and multi lights. Thanks for any suggestions.

reverendray

If the cat will hold still try this out. I assume you are using the 'averaging' or multi-zone metering. Try doing a spot reading of different areas of the picture. This can help you decide on what to actually meter for the picture. You can always use the "area" selection of a picture to adjust in the your software too.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

Are your studio lights strobes or continuous? You need to balance the studio lights and the Christmas lights. If the lights are continuous you can change the distance from the lights to the subject until the balance looks right. If they are strobes you can determine the aperture for the cat, and then use shutter speed to balance the Christmas lights.

Golden Rule Loc: Washington State

My studio lights are strobe lights. Maybe try metering for the Christmas lights and adding my two strobes for the cat? I am going to try a practice run on just the "Christmas scene" and use a black object to substitute for the cat.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Use a stand in for the cat for practice - a stuffed animal will suffice. Once you get it the way you like, then the live shot(s) will be a piece of cake. At least this way you won't piss off the cat.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

"Easy" Darken the room. Use a tripod. Place the cat near the Christmas Lights. Shoot with electronic flash to freeze the cat's movement but drag the shutter to accommodate the Christmas lights. In the attached short of the cat and the oil lamp, I used a couple of Speedlights the exposure was f/11, but I kept the shutter open for 4 seconds to capture the lamplight. In a darkened room, the cat's movement during the extended shutter exposure will not record if the aperture is small enough. In Haloween shot the main light source was an overhead Tiffiny lamp and I bootsed the light in the jack-o-lantern to match the light on the cat. I shot that with my cellphone when the cat jumped on the table to inspect the pumpkin and processed it o of that crazy aps, FUN!

*TIP_ Open a can of sardines and let the cat have a whiff and temp*t him or her- The cat will pose like a professional model! And...never piss off the cat- if you die he will eat you!

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Use a rear curtain shutter or drag your shutter using a flash, this will allow the lights to show and your black cat will be lite by the flash.
ie. get your exposure for the lights first using a shutter speed within your flash sync. Try 1/30 sec. adjust your lens opening or iso to get the lights correct, then attach the flash, adjust the flash as you shoot, adjusting the flash power.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Rear curtain sync fires the flash at the end of the exposure, just before the curtain closes. It is used in longer exposures to provide an natural appearance of motion. Under no circumstances does rear curtain sync affect the balance of exposure between ambient and speedlight - it only controls when the speedlight fires, not the intensity.

On the other hand, "dragging the shutter" will allow more ambient light, illustrated in the image below, where I used 1/13 sec and used a very low power (1/8 or less) on the flash, bouncing it off the wall behind me to get this shot. really had no choice - I had to use ISO 1600 and F2.8 to get enough ambient light.

However, EL Shapiro's approach is also one worth trying - almost exactly the opposite of dragging the shutter - but using a small lens aperture to limit the amount of ambient, and placing the cat close to the only ambient light source, thus darkening the room. Which approach works best is determined by how much ambient is desired.

EL's approach shows a very practiced hand and a thorough understanding of light and gear capabilities, but it should not be beyond an intermediate's reach if they try. But the most important pieces of advice - using the sardines and not pissing off the cat cannot be overemphasized.

(Download)

Golden Rule Loc: Washington State

So, I only have one speedlight and two strobes. I tried one strobe with an umbrella for practice and that was awful. I set my exposure for the lights and when the strobe fired it was way too much light even turned all the way down. I will try my one speedlight bounced off the ceiling and see how that works. It sounds like I had better try this shot with a prime lens. I have the 85mm f1.4 and 50mm f1.4 Nikon lenses. I want my whole scene in focus so I will need a bit of distance between me and the scene and cat if I shoot around f1.8 or f2?

roxiemarty Loc: Florida

When we did pet portraits with Santa at the company I worked for , we had a low ( short) light source with a snoot aimed at the black dogs and cats to light them better. You can make your own snoot with a large can painted black inside and out with both ends cut out. Attach inside your light reflector with gaffer tape or something like it. It worked really well for the dark animals.

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

MEOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Ceiling bounce works ok when there is some distance between the subject and camera and you can "flatten" the angle of reflection. Otherwise the lighting will be too high up and you'll get undesirable shadows. Shoot at the wall behind you, or put up a piece of beadboard insulation to bounce off from the side or behind you. I've had mine for about 8 yrs and it works fine.

https://nofilmschool.com/2015/09/learn-how-make-your-own-dirt-cheap-diy-reflector-out-bead-foam

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

The best photographs will be of you trying to convince the cat to wear lights! HO HO OUCH!

cynthy

Just wanted to say, what beautiful images. Loved it.