Need help/advice w/pet photography lighting equipment question for cat rescue group?

[froggy1]

Hi everyone,

I am the founder/administrator of Froggy's Cat Rescue, a cat rescue group in Jacksonville Fl. I am not a professional photographer and have never taken a photography class but have a decent camera, a Canon EOS Rebel T3 and I have some experience with the dos and donts for good adoption ads photos. I use the camera mainly to take pictures of our foster cats for their adoption ads. Lately, the weather has been so crappy that we have had a hard time with the photo shoots although my house has a lot of natural daylight. I don't want to use the flash as it gives cats a creepy glowy look and, a lot of times, they close their eyes when it goes off so we try to schedule the photo shoots on a nice sunny day. I am looking at possibly purchasing an umbrella setup but I have no idea what would be the best thing to buy. The pictures are always done inside. As a rescue, we don't have much money to spare for this so a small price is a must. It doesn't have to be fancy or have lots of bells and whistles. Just good enough to allow us to take good pictures when the weather is just not cooperating. I've been watching tutorials on lighting equipment but it's very confusing to me. Can anyone please help point me in the right direction? Our max budget is definitely under $200. The lower the better as the money we have is needed for the medical care of our foster cats. Here are some pictures I took today so you can see what I try to accomplish with this. My goal is to create a connection between the adopter and the cat with solid eye contact and to bring the personality thru with the picture. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated. You can email me directly at [email protected]. Thank you

 

[Mandolin]

Not sure if I can offer any advice, but I'm definitely feeling a connection with those kitties...especially the first one Sincerely, CrazyCatLady

 

[froggy1]

Thanks Mandy. If you know anyone who can answer my question, I'd be very grateful

 

[astroNikon]

I'm not an expert but I'll help start the discussion .. hopefully someone will chime in
But for under $200 you would want continuous lighting - as the cats also don't like flash.
And those are basically CPL lights - the twisty flourescent lights that replace regular incandescent light bulbs.

So you can use them in regular lamp type things.
The key I would think is to make sure they are all of the same color temperature, and to understand your white balance settings on your camera. Probably lights that do 5500 Kelvin. (see the below link)
this can give you an idea of color temperature: http://www.takecontrolandsave.coop/documents/CFLColorTemperature.pdf

Then after having enough lights around for illumination and whether you want any shadows or not,
then positioning your subjects is another thing all together.

So when you buy lights, you have to make sure all the bulbs are of the same rating. It should be listed on the box.

Of course, as mentioned, you need to understand the white balance setting on your camera otherwise the colors of the cats will be off.

Edit: forgot, you need enough illumination to keep your shutter speed fast. Sometimes CPLs don't give enough light and your shutter lags a bit losing detail due to subject motion.

Flourescents don't reflect/direct light well. I have one of those lamp stands that has about 6 lights at the top with "cones" or reflectors. I had CPLs in them but had to put foil in them to get them to put out enough light just for a work bench (not photography).

 

[tirediron]

Astro's suggestions are definitely good ones, but I will offer a different one (which may or may not work). I've photographer a LOT of animals and 99.9% of the time, flash isn't an issue at all. The reason you are having problems with (I suspect) is because you have the flash on the camera and the animals are looking directly at it. If you have the flash off of the camera, say 3' away and 45 degrees to your left/right, it will be a whole different 'animal' so to speak.

So my suggestions are to buy the following:

-Flash (Note: It does not need to be this one, ANY flash, as long as it works, and has a manual power control on the back and is NOT made for a Sony camera, produced in the last 15 years will be fine. You can probably find one on Craig's List or a local pawn shop for <$20).

-Softbox (to soften the light; the flash is placed inside this, any one 24" square or larger will be fine)
-Trigger (to trigger the flash; again, not necessarily these exact ones, there are literally thousands on eBay which will work fine)
-Light stand (to mount the light & softbox)

You should also do some reading over here on how to get the most out of off-camera flash work, as well as seach YouTube tutorials. This equipment setup will require you to do manual flash exposure, but that is very, very easy, and will give you much better and more consistant results than TTL ("Auto") work. As a thought, when shooting, try and get down more to the animals eye level and keep the images straight and level. Also choose either dark, fading to black backgrounds, or non-distracting ones.

As an example, this image:

was shot with almost exactly the same gear I list above, and while it's out of doors, you can see that it produces a nice catchlight in the animal's eyes, and the background and foreground are both well exposed. Working indoors will be even easier as you will require less power.

 

[pesya.23]

I'm not sure if I can offer any advice about lighting equipment either, but I'd like to comment a possibility of contact between adopter and cat. Recently I've found Petcube, gadget which allows people to interact with pets remotely. So, in my opinion it can be useful in the process of adoption: potential adopters can interact with cats and this will help them to get closer emotionally. This, thereby, can accelerate the process of adoption.

 

[astroNikon]

I never thought of an on-camera flash being used (duh - I don't use mine at all). The cats are closing their eyes because the camera is probably doing a prefocus flash .. so it's flashing initially to gain focus of which the cats are squinting, then doing the flash/shoot.

^^^ I like Tirediron's answer the best ^^^

 

[TCampbell]

A few things come to mind but there is one challenge in dealing with the T3... I'll get to that in a moment.

You can use a collapsible reflector to "bounce" light to your subject. These are good at making a 1 light setup seem like a 2 light setup. I use them outdoors to reflect light onto a subject to bring up shadows, etc. etc. There are many varieties. Here is a link to one: Impact Collapsible Circular Reflector Disc - Silver/White R1642 (so you can get an idea of what it is.) These are relatively inexpensive.

You want to avoid using straight-ahead flash as that will cause the reflection in the eyes and creates "flat" light (sometimes flat "straight on" light is good, but that's another topic.) An off-camera flash will be a tremendous help.

You can "bounce" the flash off a ceiling (the ceiling needs to be color-neutral and preferably just plain "white" otherwise the color will show up in the reflected light -- e.g. if you bounce off a blue ceiling then everything will have a blue color cast to it and look cold.) "Bouncing" the light only works when you have a surface to use for bouncing -- obviously you cannot "bounce" outdoors in open sky.

The built-in pop-up flash doesn't "bounce" -- it only points straight ahead. It's fine for a "fill" flash, but poor for a key light source. So you'd want a larger and more powerful flash with a head that can tilt and swivel.

The Canon flashes are going to be pricey for a $200 budget so we'll ignore them (e.g. ordinarily I'd suggest Speedlite 430EX II -- but that $299). The sorts of off-camera flashes highly recommended at Strobist are also going to be stretching your budget a bit. BUT... there are some very cheap alternatives. Yongnuo flashes are popular. The YN-560 III (about $80) is an all-manual flash (fires at it's set power level when triggered - no automation.) The YN-565 II (which comes in a Canon compatible version, a Nikon compatible version, etc. so you have to make sure you get the right version of it) is a little more expensive (about $110).

Put the flash behind a budget shoot-through umbrella (you can get a stand, bracket, and umbrella as a "kit" for about $72 here: Westcott 43" Collapsible Umbrella Flash Kit with Stand 2332 ) and it broadens the apparent source of the light so you don't have sharply defined shadows -- you get nice gentle shadow/highlight transitions which we refer to as "soft" light. That's a very economical way to handle the problem.

Canon has an flash system called "E-TTL" (electronic through-the-lens metering). The system fires a "pre-flash" at low power to test how much it brings up the light in the image. It uses this information to calculate how much real power should be necessary and then opens the shutter to take the shot using the calculated amount of power. This all happens so quickly most people just think the flash fired once.

Most newer Canon cameras can use the on-board flash to trigger an off-camera flash using the E-TTL system. The on-board camera can flash to trigger the off-camera flash by pulsing instructions to it and then NOT fire when the shutter actually opens (so only the off-camera flash fires) and you don't have the undesirable "straight ahead" light of the pop-up flash in the photo.

But NOT ALL Canon cameras can do this and the T3, being the entry-level model in the Rebel range, does not have that particular feature. In order to use off-camera flash AND be able to use the E-TTL system, you need a separate flash trigger. Unfortunately when you total the price of the flash, the trigger, and the umbrella kit you'll find that you're a bit over your $200 budget.

You could use the less expensive $80 YN-560 flashes and buy their $30 flash-triggers (the trigger mounts to the hot-shoe like a flash, but just sends the firing signal to the off-camera flash).

This would be an entirely "manual" system so you'll learn to control power on the flash three ways... (1) dialing the power up or down on the flash, (2) moving the flash nearer or farther from the subject, or (3) adjusting the f-stop (aperture) on your camera. All three of those will change how much light is collected. BTW... what will NOT affect the flash is the shutter speed OTHER than the fact that the shutter speed must be at or below the maximum flash-sync speed for your camera (for a Canon T3, that's 1/200th and *sometimes* I hear people say that the off-camera triggering systems can add just enough of a delay that it may help to slow the flash just a tiny bit below that.)

 

[Braineack]

I never thought of an on-camera flash being used (duh - I don't use mine at all). The cats are closing their eyes because the camera is probably doing a prefocus flash .. so it's flashing initially to gain focus of which the cats are squinting, then doing the flash/shoot.

^^^ I like Tirediron's answer the best ^^^

cats don't mind the off camera stuff. pre-flash on camera never will work.

this is using an umbrella:


Pookie in B&amp;W by The Braineack, on Flickr

There's maybe $100 into that off camera setup. Pair of RF603s, a YN560II flash, and the umbrella/stand.

 

[froggy1]

Thank you everyone for all the information. That's a lot of information to process and I'm reading all of it very carefully. I do want to clarify what I am looking for and why as all your answers seem wonderful but I'm still confused, not knowing any of the terms or equipment you are referring to. Working with cats can be quite challenging. Please understand that they don't take direction. They don't sit still and they simply don't listen. Some of them are very high energy and move constantly so I have to have a shutter speed fast enough not to end up with blurry pictures. I've noticed that, if I set my settings on "sport mode", the multi-shots I get give me a better chance to capture a good frame even during movement. We also have kittens and cats like I did yesterday, who are very shy and were terrified of me and my camera. The fluffy cream colored little girl on the last picture wanted nothing to do with that big black eye staring at her. She kept trying to jump down from the couch. My camera has a built-in flash so I have to set the mode to "no flash" or it pops up automatically and I get a horrible picture. However, this also means my shutter speed is slower and I have a higher chance to get blurry pictures if they move even so slightly. What I would really like to find is an umbrella/light set up that I can set before the cats arrive and are let out of the carrier. There is no way I can use a collapsible reflector. Especially with the cats who are already scared. This big shiny object moving around in the same room is only going to mean one thing. Game over. I need advice on the best type of umbrella/light kit. I was doing a google search and found this one Photography And Video Studio Umbrella Lighting Kit 650 Watts. The price is definitely good for us but I didn't want to order it without asking first if this is a setup that would work with cat pictures. Basically, I am looking for a stationary setup that adds good light to the subject (cat) and removes the shadows so I can use my camera on a regular setting without the flash going off and without all kinds of equipment and flashing lights freaking out the cats. Thank you

 

[astroNikon]

You may want to look at a remote release. Which will allow you to be next to the cat and not at your camera to take a photo.
Push a button and the camera takes a photo.

This is what I use and one of the least expensive options
http://www.amazon.com/Vello-FreeWav...23&sr=8-3&keywords=vello+remote+release+nikon

Then you can stand next to the cat, and take a quick photo. Minimizing the time that cat has to move before you take the photo.

 

[Pejacre]

Far better minds will answer your lighting question but I just wanted to say well done on the work you and the rescue centre are doing - you're good people.

 

[MargueriteBeaty]

You received some great tips not you need to figure out which one will be best for you and your budget.
I would consider using an off camera flash. A strobe with an umbrella will create unique soft light.

I am not sure how you photographed those great cat photos. You mention the flash causing their eyes to close and I will assume along with the others that you used the on-camera flash?

Looking forward to hear what you end up choosing!
Marguerite
Baby Photography Classes How to photograph baby. Baby photography class.

 

[Braineack]

I need advice on the best type of umbrella/light kit. I was doing a google search and found this one Photography And Video Studio Umbrella Lighting Kit 650 Watts. The price is definitely good for us but I didn't want to order it without asking first if this is a setup that would work with cat pictures.

I'd strongly suggest flash over continuous lighting.

Then you can bounce flash when you need to be "in the mix" and remove it from the camera and shoot through an umbrella or small softbox when they need to be more staged.

 

[astroNikon]

One of the issues I've read over continuous lighting is that it doesn't create enough light. Sure it's 650watts ... but it's not a focused beam. It's a spread lightbulb. In my one example I have a lamp with 6 heads on it with reflectors and I still had to put foil behind it to focus the light. And truthfully it still wasn't enough. 6 x 110 similated watts - close to your lights you selected. And that is just to see, not to take a photo. I added 3 halogens projection lights to my work bench area ... then I could see and probably take a good photo.

If you get brighter lights, then you have heat generation which causes other issues like catching cheap diffusers on fire.
For dim light you could up your ISO .. but how much is totally dependent.

You can easily test this by getting high watt CPLs at the store in the color you want and using a couple table lamps without the lamp shade on.
Simple & inexpensive test. No need to spend 2 x $72 right now when it may not work.

from Home Depot
200 equivalent watt 6500k $8.97 light bulbs ... use 3 of them. If the basic test doesn't work, then use them in your garage and look at a flash setup.
Feit Electric 200W Equivalent Daylight (6500K) Spiral CFL Light Bulb-ESL40TN/D at The Home Depot

Alot of interesting reading on this forum if you search.

FYI, I' just trying to help as I've never photographed pets before. I think the flash is the best setup but just trying to go cheap and get good results.
There's also the "movement" issue which a flash basically stops movement ... but that's a bit more technical

I think the flash is a best idea too but you can run an inexpensive test at home.