Jake, my "kitten"

SnowOrchid · Jun 18, 2013

I call him kitten jokingly, he is 4 and a half

Oh and by the way I am new here and just trying to explore photography as a hobby ...

I've just been reading about ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, and my cat has been the easiest subject for me since he is always there and doesn't know what i'm doing when i'm taking a picture of him! I say that because I have friends and family who get annoyed if i take out a camera in the middle of life...

I think the pics may be overexposed, I don't know, but that would be because for some reason I love the look of brightness in photos, and I find it hard not to overexpose a little ..

CowgirlMama · Jun 18, 2013

I don't think any of those photos are overexposed. The last has blown out spots in the background, but the cat is actually a little underexposed.

I'll bet your cat knows what you're doing.

Mine gets jealous if I take pictures of my son. He starts pushing into pictures and striking poses.

nola.ron · Jun 18, 2013

Welcome to TPF. #1 literally made me squint from the blown highlights and flares. Exposure, to a certain degree, is taste (although your histogram will tell you if properly exposed, but you have a little bit of room +/- to taste). However, blown highlights like in #1 is something you'll learn to avoid/fix. Keep on shootin'.

SnowOrchid · Jun 18, 2013

Thanks for the replies

I was kind of amazed by the "blown highlights", the little spots in the first picture..It reminded me of what happens after you stare at the sun LOL.. I had no idea how that happened, but I thought it was kind of cool in a way :lol:

480sparky · Jun 18, 2013

SnowOrchid said:
Thanks for the replies I was kind of amazed by the "blown highlights", the little spots in the first picture..It reminded me of what happens after you stare at the sun LOL.. I had no idea how that happened, but I thought it was kind of cool in a way

The little spots are not blown highlights... it's flare. The blown highlights are the pure white areas.

cgipson1 · Jun 18, 2013

SnowOrchid said:
Thanks for the replies I was kind of amazed by the "blown highlights", the little spots in the first picture..It reminded me of what happens after you stare at the sun LOL.. I had no idea how that happened, but I thought it was kind of cool in a way

That is called lens flare... and is caused by light bouncing around in your lens in a manner it was not designed for. Sometime is can be cool... sometimes it is just distracting. IMO.. distracting here! That is why we use lens hoods, and seldom shoot directly into a bright light source. The only thing "Blown" is the background (windows) while the subject is badly underexposed (Image #1).

There is a guideline... that the eye is drawn to the brightest part of the photo.... and since several of these have very bright areas that are not the subject...

SnowOrchid · Jun 18, 2013

480sparky said:
SnowOrchid said:

Thanks for the replies I was kind of amazed by the "blown highlights", the little spots in the first picture..It reminded me of what happens after you stare at the sun LOL.. I had no idea how that happened, but I thought it was kind of cool in a way

Click to expand...

The little spots are not blown highlights... it's flare. The blown highlights are the pure white areas.

Ohh okay, I got it now...

I actually tried to adjust the curves on that picture, but that made it worse, probably because like cgipson1 said the cat is underexposed

So, no hope for that one,I wish I could go on the other side of the window, so the sun can be behind him! His favorite spot is right next to window!

CowgirlMama · Jun 18, 2013

I have a big picture window on the front of my house. Some of my best cat pictures were taken when they were in front of that window. It lights the cats' faces beautifully. I generally try to either not have the window really be in the picture or not quite blow it. I'm ok with it being bright, but try not to actually blow the highlights.

Meet Jack:

SnowOrchid · Jun 19, 2013

CowgirlMama said:
I have a big picture window on the front of my house. Some of my best cat pictures were taken when they were in front of that window. It lights the cats' faces beautifully. I generally try to either not have the window really be in the picture or not quite blow it. I'm ok with it being bright, but try not to actually blow the highlights.

Meet Jack:

Wow so beautiful!!!

I think part of the problem in the pics above was the fact the camera was at my eye level so there was light coming in from below him as well...kitty likes to climb at the top of his cat tree. That and my ISO was probably too high, I am a junkie with this light!! I haven't really used my Canon Eos rebel t3i much, and the really simple digital camera I had before really didn't have those high ISO settings to choose from, and the pictures always looked so dark and had a muddy look to them.. I will explore different angles and settings..

Here are some really old pics with my sony 5 megapixel 6 year old camera at that time..

CowgirlMama · Jun 19, 2013

Any time you can, try to angle yourself so the light is only coming from one direction, or at least, some is behind you. For my picture of Jack, I was low to get the angle I wanted. I tend to shift and adjust a lot before I actually take the shot because I want to get the light where it looks good *and* get the cat at a flattering angle. If I'd thought about it more, rather than a "awe, he's so cute!" moment, I probably would have grabbed my reflector to reduce my post work. (Had to lighten the dark side slightly.) I was taking the picture because he was grinning and chirping in his sleep.

I've taken so many pet pictures in that window. I've even convinced my 3 year old to sit there if I wanted a shot, but didn't have time to do a full lighting set up (say, on the way out the door). In the mornings, the light is brighter and I can use the window as a light source for anything in the room. It looks, from your pictures, like you have at least one big window that can be used that way. It's just a matter of timing it when the sun is where you want it.

Stevepwns · Jun 19, 2013

How do you post pictures like that, I have tried all my Flickr links and none of the ones they provide work?

SnowOrchid · Jun 19, 2013

CowgirlMama said:
Any time you can, try to angle yourself so the light is only coming from one direction, or at least, some is behind you. For my picture of Jack, I was low to get the angle I wanted. I tend to shift and adjust a lot before I actually take the shot because I want to get the light where it looks good *and* get the cat at a flattering angle. If I'd thought about it more, rather than a "awe, he's so cute!" moment, I probably would have grabbed my reflector to reduce my post work. (Had to lighten the dark side slightly.) I was taking the picture because he was grinning and chirping in his sleep.

I've taken so many pet pictures in that window. I've even convinced my 3 year old to sit there if I wanted a shot, but didn't have time to do a full lighting set up (say, on the way out the door). In the mornings, the light is brighter and I can use the window as a light source for anything in the room. It looks, from your pictures, like you have at least one big window that can be used that way. It's just a matter of timing it when the sun is where you want it.

Thank you for that advice!! I will definitely try to change my angle, and yea the window i have is almost taking up the entire wall..I think i need to give Jake a break he is pretty annoyed that I have been stalking him with the camera :lol: