Catch Light: Hi, this is my cutie patootie. I am wondering if the catch light is in the correct place in her eyes. I always thought it should be on the pupil. This shows a tiny white...

Andrea Loc: Naples, Florida

Hi, this is my cutie patootie. I am wondering if the catch light is in the correct place in her eyes. I always thought it should be on the pupil. This shows a tiny white dot in the center and the catch light on her iris. Not sure if that is correct. I used a speedlite off camera with an umbrella diagonally to her left.

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Your catch lights are well placed.
Pat
Snap Shot Guy....

Andrea Loc: Naples, Florida

Thank You , but don't they belong in the center?

Photo Girl Loc: SE Pasco County, FL

Andrea wrote:

Thank You , but don't they belong in the center?

I think she's the cutest 'cutie patootie' I've ever seen. If the catch lights were in the center of her pupils, it would look like there was something wrong with her eyes. I think the pictures are perfect. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

As catch lights are a reflection of a light source, they are off to the side if the source is off to the side. To be in the eye center, the light source would be very close to your camera. With straight on lighting, you can lose the shadows that give your subject nice shadows/dimension.
That's ok if that is the overall look, you want.
Pat

Andrea Loc: Naples, Florida

Thank you Pat. Thank you Photo Girl.

MtnMan Loc: ID

Andrea wrote:

Hi, this is my cutie patootie. I am wondering if the catch light is in the correct place in her eyes. I always thought it should be on the pupil. This shows a tiny white dot in the center and the catch light on her iris. Not sure if that is correct. I used a speedlite off camera with an umbrella diagonally to her left.

They look great to me.

If the catch light were in the center I think you'd have red eye. The pupil looks black because there isn't (relatively) much light bouncing around inside the eye. If the light is on the pupil it is entereing the eye in which case you'd see the illumination of the retina: red eye.

photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

Nice portrait shot,especially the second one,catce lights look natural and right.

briace Loc: liverpool uk

Andrea wrote:

Hi, this is my cutie patootie. I am wondering if the catch light is in the correct place in her eyes. I always thought it should be on the pupil. This shows a tiny white dot in the center and the catch light on her iris. Not sure if that is correct. I used a speedlite off camera with an umbrella diagonally to her left.

class keep posting :thumbup: :thumbup:

skidooman Loc: Minnesota

So long as the catchlights don't fall below the 10 or 2 o'clock position,,,they'll look right. When less than that it looks unnatural. Nice pics by the way.

raymondh Loc: Walker, MI

Sweetness personified :thumbup: :thumbup:

sailorsmom Loc: Souderton, PA

She's adorable, Andrea, and the light in her eyes looks perfect to me. I can't imagine it right in the middle. :thumbup:

Tina

Goregous!!!

MtnMan Loc: ID

MtnMan wrote:

If the catch light were in the center I think you'd have red eye.

I invalidated my assertion above last night.

Last night our camera club did a unique evening allowing all members to show five minute slide shows of their photos. I was impressed by the quality of the photos and the creativity of the members.

But the point relevent here is that many of the photos included portraits...at least several hundred. Because of this thread I paid attention to where the catch lights were. (Usually I'd never notice.) Up to 1/3 of them were on the pupil and none showed red eye.

Most of them were small and right on the boundary between the iris and the pupil...as yours are.

Perhaps the reason why the ones on the pupil didn't show red eye is that the light source was not straight on and was not from the bright light of a flash.

Live and learn.

Llanelly Loc: Saffron Walden, England

Hi Andrea,

I can't see anything wrong with the photos - in fact they are excellent! the catch light looks fine to me and as someone else has pointed out, if the catch lights were in the centre of the pupil it would look all wrong!

Steve