How do I fix my Sony A7R4 camera's settings to get a perfect exposure of a black cat in a coal bin under low light? While attempting to take a portrait of a pet owner's black cat...

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

While attempting to take a portrait of a pet owner's black cat hiding in their basement coal bin, I found it very difficult to arrive at the perfect camera settings to properly expose the individual hairs and details of the cat and at the same time separate the cat from the surrounding coal. I realized that I had no choice but to add a fill flash to the light provided by the overhead basement lights to get a decent exposure of the black fur, without having the ISO go way too high creating a lot of photographic "noise." What other photographic techniques would you care to share with me to get the correct exposusre to avoid clipping highlights or blocking the shadow details of the subject of my images? Thank you in advance for sharing. Shooter41

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

Set up Novatron flash units on the right and left side of the coal bin as well as overhead to create the Rembrandt lighting ratio to further separate the cat from the coal and take my light reading of the black fur of the cat.

jcboy3

Shooter41 wrote:

While attempting to take a portrait of a pet owner... (show quote)

The way to get separation of a black cat from a coal bin is to use a squirt gun.

User ID

Green Zone mode, recording in raw.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Shooter41 wrote:

While attempting to take a portrait of a pet owner... (show quote)

When photographing our “Tortie” cat some years ago, I ‘accidentally’ discovered that additional light was needed to make her colors stand out. I expect that is the ‘secret’ ingredient for you also.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Wait a minute... "hiding in their basement coal bin" We had a coal bin, but that was in 1940s. Your story sounds good with the exception of the "Coal Bin" Did they delivered clean coal in a 1935 truck. Was it a white cat covered with coal dust?

FREE BLACK CAT WITH EACH DELIVERY

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

User ID wrote:

Green Zone mode, recording in raw.

Dear :User ID... I am going to try shooting a couple of images in the Green Zone mode, just to see how they complare to my manual mode images. Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply and sharing your photographic knowledge. I hadn't considered how the extra pixels shooting in RAW could definitely help record details of both the cat fur and the texture of the coal causing visual separation for a viewer of the image. My meager train of thought was, "If I can learn how to better capture the cat fur details and make separation of the cat visually from the coal more obvious, I would be better able to handle most any light situation I encounter in the future. You and a scholar and a gentleman or gentle woman." Shooter41

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

rehess wrote:

When photographing our “Tortie” cat some years ago, I ‘accidentally’ discovered that additional light was needed to make her colors stand out. I expect that is the ‘secret’ ingredient for you also.

Dear rehess...I think you are correct. If I were to set up my Novatron studio flashes spaced so that they create Rembrandt lighting ratio, with one on the left, one on the right and one above, I could trigger them with the flash on top of my Sony R7M4 set to shoot in RAW to get sufficient light to edit the image in Photoshop to perfection. Thank you for sharing your photographic knowledge. Shooter41

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

dpullum wrote:

Wait a minute... "hiding in their basement coal bin" We had a coal bin, but that was in 1940s. Your story sounds good with the exception of the "Coal Bin" Did they delivered clean coal in a 1935 truck. Was it a white cat covered with coal dust?

Dear dpullum... For those who live in older homes built during or before the 1940's in colder climates, sometimes still have the coal bins in the basement even though they have not received a coal delivery in many decades. Others have removed the bins or cleaned and painted them to use for storage purposes. I have found that cats often find odd places to hide such as a long-retired coal bins and occasionally a coal bin that never had the coal entirely removed. If there is an out of the way place to hide, they will find it. Thank you for your sharing your history with coal bins. Shooter41

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

Shooter41 wrote:

While attempting to take a portrait of a pet owner... (show quote)

I just use high ISO but without noise. Camera settings? I turned the ISO dial to 25,600.

Here's a photo I took just yesterday at ISO 25,600. I don't see a lot of photographic "noise."

(Download)

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

A "coal bin"..? Oh, my. With the push to remove natural gas appliances, perhaps we will see many more coal bins for natural gas and oil home heating will be next.

The good news is that the cinders make great traction in snow-packed ice when spread on the road. Also, cleaning out the clunkers and the cinder bucket gives the kids something to do and I speak from experience. I didn't care for the cinder track we had at school for if you would fall while running on the track you would get a nasty road rash.

User ID

Shooter41 wrote:

Dear :User ID... I am going to try shooting a coup... (show quote)

Its reeeeeally simple. Green Zone will put all tones of your narrow tonal range near the middle, maximizing the data in your raw file so you can then render the result to your personal taste.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Ysarex wrote:

I just use high ISO but without noise. Camera settings? I turned the ISO dial to 25,600.

Here's a photo I took just yesterday at ISO 25,600. I don't see a lot of photographic "noise."

When I got my Pentax KP - often compared favorably in the press with the Nikon D500 - I took various photos to see how it works. This one taken at ISO 12K, convinced me to continue using flash at times, because DR fell off with sensors at the time {I have found DR to be much more of an issue than noise}{there is a black cat lying on my dark gray jacket}

(Download)

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

rehess wrote:

When I got my Pentax KP - often compared favorably in the press with the Nikon D500 - I took various photos to see how it works. This one taken at ISO 12K, convinced me to continue using flash at times, because DR fell off with sensors at the time {I have found DR to be much more of an issue than noise}.

Sensor DR and noise are two sides of the same coin. Noise limits DR -- we measure DR from the sensor's saturation threshold down to the noise floor. Lower the noise floor and you expand DR. The tech end keeps improving -- albeit more slowly these days. Cameras capable of + 12 stops of DR are increasingly common.

TheOriginalHammer Loc: Carlyle Illinois

User ID wrote:

Green Zone mode, recording in raw.

Ignorant of Green Zone - Please describe how to use