Photographing my black cat

I

insomniac

Messages
172
Edit My Images
No
Hi,

The other day I was trying to take a photograph of my cat sitting on the bed. Though it was early evening (4pm-ish) and the room had ample light, the sky was very cloudy so the light was a bit grey.

I tried to take a portrait of Felix in a sitting pose. The bed cover and the wall behind him were both slightly different shades of white. The wall was smooth and and didn't have any pictures or points of sharp contrast.

The end result was it looks like he was sitting on a white sheet. None of the details of the bed cover (the patterns, creases, folds) came through and nor did any contrast between the bed cover and the wall behind him. As the window was behind him, a portion of it is visible in the photo.

I shot using a D90 and Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8. The aperture was fully open at f2.8, ISO was set to base 200 and shutter speed must have been around 1/400.

One thing though was that White Balance was set to Auto, not Cloudy. In hindsight, would this have helped?

Any suggestions on how to get better results? Would it have been a good idea to switch on a floorstanding lamp in the room to bathe it in a bit more yellow?

Thanks.
 
It sounds like the highlights have been 'blown'. My guess is that the black cat fooled your camera into thinking that the scene was darker than it actually was and so the camera tried to compensate and ended up over exposing the image? Did your cat end up looking a little brown? This would pretty much confirm it. If the detail has been lost, then it is not a WB issue.

It also sounds like the major light source in the room, i.e the window was behind the cat? That would mean that your cat was probably very dark compared to the rest of the scene, again contributing to 'blowing' the highlights in an effort to expose for the cat.

You could use a separate light to illuminate your cat but it might look a bit harsh. Maybe better to shoot from the other side so that the cat is being illuminated by the window, though try to avoid direct sunlight.

By the way, black cats are a b****r to photograph and expose correctly. We have two cats, a grey one and a black one. I have about 10 times as many nice photos of the grey one as the black one.
 
Sounds like the opposite problem I have with my irridescent white dog :) For him we expose as if it's a snowscene lol
 
I've attached two images - one of our black cat on said white bed cover. The other of our tabby lounging on some mat that's very fond of.

So in the black cat image, I feel that the background is poorly contasted and the bed 'fuses' into the window and the wall.

In the tabby cat image, it seems to be that apart from the center of the image everything else is out of focus (e.g. look at the bottom edge).

Any suggestions on what might be going wrong?

Thank you.

Black cat:
http://tinypic.com/r/2196n3l/5
Focal length in 35mm film: 42mm
Exposure: 1/60
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 200
White Balance: Auto
Aperture Priority
Matrix Metering
Bias: 0

Tabby cat:
http://tinypic.com/r/24o2fs9/5
Focal length in 35mm film: 78mm
Exposure: 1/40
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
White Balance: Auto
Aperture Priority
Matrix Metering
Bias: -0.7
 
insomniac said:
I've attached two images - one of our black cat on said white bed cover. The other of our tabby lounging on some mat that's very fond of.

So in the black cat image, I feel that the background is poorly contasted and the bed 'fuses' into the window and the wall.

In the tabby cat image, it seems to be that apart from the center of the image everything else is out of focus (e.g. look at the bottom edge).

Any suggestions on what might be going wrong?

Thank you.

Black cat:
http://tinypic.com/r/2196n3l/5
Focal length in 35mm film: 42mm
Exposure: 1/60
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 200
White Balance: Auto
Aperture Priority
Matrix Metering
Bias: 0

Tabby cat:
http://tinypic.com/r/24o2fs9/5
Focal length in 35mm film: 78mm
Exposure: 1/40
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
White Balance: Auto
Aperture Priority
Matrix Metering
Bias: -0.7
Click to expand...

The first one just looks like the background is over exposed and the subject is in shadow.

The second looks like the results of using a wide aperture, i.e narrow depth of field. You'll also find that most lenses are a little soft in the corners wide open.
 
Last edited:
For the second photograph, perhaps I good sharpen the corners a bit by using a smaller aperture.

What about the first photograph? Smaller aperture too, or should I have applied a bias correction?
 
Hi Graham,

Would you allow anyone to have a shot at a little PP? Your account status says I'm not allowed to edit any of your photo and re-post, so I would prefer you to confirm 1st before I had a shot at it...

cheers

Dan.
 
insomniac said:
For the second photograph, perhaps I good sharpen the corners a bit by using a smaller aperture.

What about the first photograph? Smaller aperture too, or should I have applied a bias correction?
Click to expand...

Yep, Anything slightly away from wide open helps, but try f/4 if you have enough light and work from there. That said, photos can benefit by having the subject in focus and the rest a blur as it makes your subject stand out in the image.

Second one, as I said earlier, your major problem is that your subject is lit from behind. What your camera is seeing is a very dark foreground with a very light background. It can only do so much and it's unlikely you'll ever get everything correctly exposed in that scenario. First thing, can you position yourself between the window and your cat so the cat is lit from the window and is no longer in shadow? Alternatively you could use a little fill in flash, ideally using an off camera speedlight.
 
Black cat shot : It appears the window is the only light source for the room and you are effectively aiming the camera directly at the light source, which perhaps isn't the most common photographic approach. It is done, but usually with the expectation that the background will be blown out. The cat is in its own shadow and thus not well lit from the front. The picture looks exactly as I would expect it to and there is nothing you can do about the camera settings to overcome that. You could add light, by using a flash, but definitely not a yellowy tungsten lamp against the blueish light from the window.

Picking your background and your lighting is as important as picking your subject. The easiest thing to do, IMHO, would be to turn the cat around and shoot from the position of the window, or at least from that side of the room. Or, at least frame the shot so that the window is not visible in the background. There's nothing wrong with a bit of backlight. Just try to avoid having the source appear directly in your shot - unless you want it there. You could do that by moving either to the left or right and, if you have the space, moving further back from the subject and using a longer focal length to narrow the angle of view.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top