Beginner Cat - Lighting Question

Ronnie Mutch

Ronnie Mutch

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Ronnie
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Hi all, I took this photo of my cat Loki last night as I quite liked the pose. We're in a new house and it was the first time he's settled properly all day. Anyway, I had to be quick and quiet and got lucky when something grabbed his attention quickly. I also struggled with auto-focus. Is that because of the low light? I had to stick it on manual focus quickly, so hopefully I'm not off too much.

Could of questions regarding the warm, orange colouring in the photo due to low light.

Do you like the effect or would it be better edited?
What should I adjust in PP in order?
Do you prefer the one I'd taken with the built in flash which eliminates this orange?

I quite like it, as it feels cosy and sums up the moment (cold outside, warm living room, dark night, settling down for the evening).

21761580_10155943038502638_1482933727721748561_n.jpg
21617685_10155944415602638_8252257908728834624_n.jpg
 
I actually prefer the second one light wise.
To adjust the warmth of the first one, just change the white balance in lr or whatever software you use.
 
The overall colour cast in the first pic is because the camera's Auto White Balance got the lighting wrong, or you set the WB to the wrong setting. You can either choose an appropriate WB, which in this case could be Incandescent/Tungsten for indoor house lighting, or measure and set a more accurate Custom WB under the light the Cat was in, or try to change after the fact. If you took the picture as a Jpeg, you will be physically adjusting the colour of the pixels during post processing, and some large changes can result in slight degradation of the image. If taken in RAW, then the WB can be changed during post processing with no degradation to the image.

The Flash has more accurate colour because it is projecting light onto the Cat, and the camera has set the correct WB for that light.

All cameras struggle to focus in low light, with generally the more expensive cameras being better at it.
 
I pretty much agree as above, but also ACR ( Adobe Camera raw) will read and process Jpeg with all the functionality of a raw image.
As for degrading the image, I guess that depends on how much pixel peeping you do ..
But as you have posted this with a beginner tag, I'm guessing that is not important to you at the moment...

Obviously I don't know what the true colour of the cat is, so Just the wb altered and a little sharpen..

Cat.jpg
 
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As a picture the first is a real success, though the white balance is off. The second has the white balance accurately, even a little too "cold" suggesting daylight, but isn't as appealing with the cat's eyes closed. Try turning down the red channel on the first pic, and see if you can get a white similar to that in the second.
 
Amazing feedback, thanks all. Just checked, my white balance was set to sunshine. I do have the raw image, so will take a look and post back.
 
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