Kittens

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jimmy83

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James
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Iam after some advice on taking some shots of two 5 week old kittens, one of them is quite tame but the other hardly sits still. I tried a few shots today inside and the best I could manage was with using my flash. Can anyone give me any tips? Will post my photos that ive done tomorrow evening.
 
Ok so f5 125 of a second ISO 400? Iam only using my 400d kit lens
 
kit lens beats f5 like f4.5 maybe, bump the iso as high as necessary so 800 (1600 if needed) make sure you don't under expose as this makes noise much much worse

for proper low light stuff you need a faster lens.......
 
Okay, having been in the same boat as you this weekend here are my tips - specific to the little tykes that i own.

1) Don't try and catch them out in the open. They simply won't be still for more than a few seconds

2) Wait until they are doing something THEY are interested in and get as close as you can without disturbing them and lay on the ground.

3) If indoors whack up the ISO. I shot the two you see below at ISO 1600 as kittens have this knack of moving quickly and unexpectedly (paws, head, etc). I don't recommend a flash. I think it will simply make them leg it (certainly make them turn away I'd have thought)

4) Try and get that "who the heck are you photographing me" shot :)

Here are the two shots I took. The first was Brian playing with a ball on the scratch post) and the second is Boris playing with Brian

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Thats all, LJR could you tell me how you added that border I assume its using PS?

RichardtheSane, yes I do have a flash gun
 
Sure, it's a set of actions I picked up from someone who resides at another forum. I'm not sure what the rules are about linking to other photography forums (you'd have to register to get access to them).

However, I suspect there are tons of Photoshop actions out there that create frames.
 
LJR said:
Sure, it's a set of actions I picked up from someone who resides at another forum. I'm not sure what the rules are about linking to other photography forums (you'd have to register to get access to them).

However, I suspect there are tons of Photoshop actions out there that create frames.
Click to expand...

Would you mind PM'ing the frame please?
 
My attempts, would welcome some feedback please?

1-20.jpg


George.jpg
 
I like the first one, perhaps a bit soft but still good. The 2nd has harsh lighting in my opinion. Try the 'rear' function when using the onboard flash to give a slightly softer light.

Hope this helps.
 
Chumpalot said:
I like the first one, perhaps a bit soft but still good. The 2nd has harsh lighting in my opinion. Try the 'rear' function when using the onboard flash to give a slightly softer light.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Rear function?

Yup I agree the 2nd the lighting is too much. Ive not done any PP to either, so may give that ago. Your more welcome to try if you fancy, or anyone for that matter.
 
jimmy83 said:
Your more welcome to try if you fancy, or anyone for that matter.
Click to expand...
They can't mate. You haven't updated your profile to show you're happy for people to post edits of your images.
 
LJR said:
They can't mate. You haven't updated your profile to show you're happy for people to post edits of your images.
Click to expand...

Where do I find this option in my profile?
 
They're tricky little devils to catch, aren't they?
Biggest problem I had was getting enough light to keep the shutter speed high as I didn't want to use flash as ours was a bit skittish.
My first set, taken with the 18-55 kit lens consisted of a set of black blurs as the max aperture wasn't enough to get the shutter speed high enough.
To fix that, I got myself a nifty fifty, thinking f/1.8 was all I was going to need. The second set of photos were then all soft as hell, nothing like as sharp as I'd expected them to be after all I'd read about the lens. Turns out that to get the kitten to fill the frame, the end of the lens had to be about 50cm from the little critter. At f/1.8, this gives a DoF measured in (not many) mm, so after focussing, if either the lens or the cat move (and the cat will move) then the focus point shifts.

The next step was to increase the amount of light so I could stop down enough to solve the DoF issues. This involved lots of getting her to play in front of the patio doors.
Further inprovments were gained from shooting from a bit further back and cropping the image slightly, rather than aiming to fill the frame at the outset.

After all this, I'm finally starting to get some semi decent shots, nothing exceptional, but images that I don't immediately send to the trash.

Lovely looking cats BTW. Make sure you get plenty of pics, they grow soooo quickly.

I'll try and hunt out some shots of ours tonight to illustrate the points above.
 
Iam borrowing a friends canon 24-105 lens shooting inside fairly good lightening. What settings would you guys recomend? Iam using my 400d.

appreciate any help with this :)
 
jimmy83 said:
Iam borrowing a friends canon 24-105 lens shooting inside fairly good lightening. What settings would you guys recomend? Iam using my 400d.

appreciate any help with this :)
Click to expand...

I can't speak for you particular lens, body combo but general advice is the same. You're going to be wanting a fast shutter speed since kittens are so lively so you need to maximise light. I'd recommend positioning the scratch post as near to natural light as possible. A glass door would be good or maybe in a glass conservatory if you have one.
A longer focal length will prevent you disturbing the kittens. Depending on space probably upwards of 70mm would be suitable.
A wide aperture will isolate the kitten more and keep a distracting background to a minimum. The longer focal length will help with this too.
Don't be afraid to bump up the ISO if it's needed but try and use the lowest setting you can manage with to prevent excessive noise.
Switch your camera to shoot continuous frames as the animals are so unpredictable in movements and maybe even try using continuous focus to see if this works for you. It'll depend how the 400d deals with tracking and how the focus points can be configured.

Above all have fun with it! Kittens are great but they soon grow out of being so playful so make the most of it.
 
Thanks, so someting like f4 125 shutter speed?
 
Anyone?
 
No P&P on any yet..please feel free to play around with any ...more to come













 
Thanks, I think they are around 3-4 months now. I tried to shoot with a pain background in the brightest part of the house as they are housebound at the minute. It's difficuit to judge with kittens I find, especially when they are playing, the black one I had trouble with as each image looks really soft as it doesnt have any kinda definition to it like the grey stripy one.




 








 
Took some of a friends kitten recently. The flash didn't bother him at all. Had to shoot inside though, as he's too young to be let out yet.

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They are easier to get in the evenings I find when they are a little more tired.
 
ENOUGH!!!

Isn't there a specific Forum section for all this????
 
Can anyone suggest how I can improve any of those photos in PS?
 
No it's the RAF that are all soft and fluffy - even the RN have had to 'Man-Up' these days and are Born-Again Hard...

(the RAF do not supply their photographers to the Tri-Service Combat Camera Teams serving in Afghanistan as it's too dangerous...and it maintains that its personnel are not suited to conducting Land-Warfare operations.
Part of the reason for this may be that alone amongst the three Services, it allows direct-entry into the Photographic Trade, whereas the Army and RN require candidates to serve a minimum of 5 years in a Front-Line role...
Part of it may be that the RAF's Basic Fitness test is considerably less vigourous than either the Army's or the RN's...there are some seriously FAT Royal Air Force personnel out there...)
 
I'm not great at asking advice from, as each time I've never got the shutter speed high enough, because the cattery at my local rescue is SO dark when piccies are concerned. But here are some of my attempts to show you. - I ALWAYS get down to their level. I also sit and watch them for a bit to try and pre-empt what they're gonna do. But equally just click and hope for the best :p

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