Playing with some new photo gear - NEW 'tutorials'

[Catlady711]

For those wondering how you would know when you need a reflector (or fill flash), I'll do a set of pix tomorrow showing you the difference in what my new 'toys' do and how they look. Would that be ok??

Hopefully I can get one of the cats to stay in one place long enough to do the shots for that. ROFL

For today however, I have 3 more pix I took playing with the reflectors again. I got some shots of Josh too, but ran out of time to process them.

So here's today's shots.


Pooky again. Only because he was the only one that would stay on the couch in that lighting. ROFL




Bear






I'll be back again tomorrow with more pix.

[Moesha]

And I shall be waiting!

[tomkatzid]

Beautiful cat photos. I really like the first one because the eyes match the blanket !!!
I have that for my flash also and use it sometimes, but mostly just bounce off white ceiling. I may drag out the camera and flash tomorrow and try it again.
Katz

[Randy_K]

How do you know when you will need a bounce reflector? You'd be surprised that you end up using it frequently.

In close situations, the lighting from a direct flash tends to be a bit harsh. Bouncing the light (or defusing it with a device like the Sto-Fen) softens that light and distributes it evenly on the subject. The pictures above look quite professional with the soft, even lighting. The snap-on diffuser like the Sto-Fen allows you to aim the flash gun directly at the subject without overwhelming the subject with light.

The use of the fill flash outside is to compensate for the uneven lighting by natural sunlight so a subject is more evenly lighted - no shadows. Many professional photographers frequently use the fill flash when shooting close subjects outside.

[jennielynn1970]

What's the flash gun thing?? Is it attached to the camera?? I'm so lost on this thread, lol!

I love the pictures, they do look like studio prints.

[catmandu]

THOSE PHOTOS LOOK SO GOOD, THATS A 30 DOLLARS VERY WELL SPENT WITH THE PHOTOS THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE NOW!!!

[Catlady711]

As promised: an explanation, in pictures, about how you know when you need a reflector and what things look like with and without one.

Since Pooky is my most laid back cat, AND happen to be sleeping in the spot I wanted to use, he became my volunteer for today's lesson. ROFL

To be fair to those of you with simple Point & Shoot cameras, I shot all these pix with my Canon S3IS point and shoot set on P (program) mode. I did NOT do ANY processing at all, these are all straight from the camera, only downsized for posting.

(please forgive me, these are about as 'snapshot' as they come for me! lol I had VERY little time to do these today)

Anyway today's lighting outside was HEAVY overcast so lighting was very dim despite how it might look in the pix. The window on the right is my North facing picture window (North windows usually have the best lighting anyways)

Ok, ready??? Here we go.....

Here's a (lousy) pix of my livingroom and Pooky's favorite blanket so you can get an idea of what the lighting looked like overall.



Here's a close up portrait of him in that same location, same lighting, WITHOUT using any reflectors.

Notice the dark shadows across his face? This tells me I need more light there so I can see his pretty eyes. I don't want to turn on the pop up flash (more on that in a bit) so I need to do something to get more light to the shadow area.



Here's a set up with the silver reflector in the same place as I had it in the shot in the opening post of this thread. You can see how it adds more light to the shadows even this far away.


And here's the close up portrait with that same set up.


Hmmmm. Better but not quite what I want, and not the same as last weeks shot. Why? The lighting outside was brighter before, and it was a different time of day when I shot that very first one at the top of the thread. Light changes a bit all the time and I have to notice that and make changes sometimes.

So what do we do now???

We move the reflector that's what we do.

Here I moved it (proped it up with my other reflector actually with Sassy supervising) so it's reflecting light from underneath a bit more.


Here's what that set up will give me.


Much better. If I'd had more time I could have bent or moved the reflector around to get a pix that looks very close to the one at the top of this thread, but I simply did not have time. You get the idea though. No flash, natural look, no red eye, no super dark shadows hiding details in his face, and a nice catchlight (glint) in his eyes.

In this pix you can see the brightest area is actually under his chin which tells me I should have tilted the reflector just a bit more upwards. A reflector works on the same angles that you have if you were using a mirror to shine light onto a wall, or for a signal, only using silver with some texture (wrinkles) in it makes a nicer light.


On to the pop up flash in the next post.

[Catlady711]

Ok pop up flash. Not the nicest looking light, but it's portable, you always have it with you, and sometimes it's either use the pop up flash or miss your shot. So how do we make it look Purrrrtier?

Simple, we grab a piece of white, thin computer paper! Stay with me now, I haven't lost my marbles.....yet. ROFL

Here I removed all the reflectors and just worked with the lighting from window. It was too dark so I let the pop up flash do it's thing.

I turned the camera vertical so you could really see the harsh, black shadow behind Pooky better, and the full red eye. *shivers*

Here's where the white, thin piece of computer paper comes in. Hold it in FRONT of your pop up flash. You want it at the very end of your lens but NOT in front of, or even with your lens or you'll get flare or a blob in your pix.

I took a pix in my bathroom mirror of what this looks like, yes it's a two hand job but it works, trust me. This makes the light from your flash larger and softer. (try a shot of your camera with and without the paper at home in your mirror and you'll see the difference) I did not change my white balance setting which is why the pix is so yellow orange.



Ok so what does that computer paper make Pooky look like now? See for yourself.

Yes it's a bit darker (that will vary depending on how your camera is set up, how bright your subject is, and the room lighting), but notice a few things in this shot.

The red eye is seriously reduced (yes I had the red eye reduction set on the flash for BOTH shots), the shadow behind Pooky is much softer which is less annoying, and the lighting shows more of the detail in Pooky's fur.

The computer paper (or white rice paper, or something similar) helps to give you a better light with very little expense or hassle. This will only work on subjects fairly close to you as it does cut the light from your flash some. I didn't have my flash cranked up to full power or these would have looked more dramatic in the differences.

Due to lack of time, and too dim of lighting I was unable to do the shots to show you how a white translucent reflector works. So that lesson will have to wait for another day.

Give me your thoughts on my "reflector lesson" and if you want me to do this for the white translucent one or not.


And for you Josh fan's out there, I did manage to get one pix of him processed just for you guys!!!

[Catlady711]

What's the flash gun thing?? Is it attached to the camera?? I'm so lost on this thread, lol!

I love the pictures, they do look like studio prints.

At this point don't worry too much about flash guns. LOL Just using a piece of cardboard with wrinkly alumminum foil (dull side out), or a piece of computer paper will get you about what I shot today.

Suffice to say a 'flash gun' or off camera flash or studio strobe will make better pix for lighting, but can get a bit more complicated and you would need to have a good grasp on photography basics first.

I can cover more on 'flash guns' later if people want, but I tend to gear my 'lessons' (yes I do this at home and online alot for people that ask) more towards people who love photography, but only have simple cameras, or aren't very advanced photographers.

[jennielynn1970]

it's amazing the difference that that silver reflector made. Pooky was very accommodating with the whole set up too, lol!

I definitely appreciate the lessons.

[Moesha]

I learned a lot from your lesson and really liked the photo demonstrations!! Any thing that you are willing or able to teach us is very much appreciated. But please don't spend too much of your valuable time thinking about our Pet Talk Photography Lessons. Thank you so much!!

[Randy_K]

The flash gun can be on the camera or stand alone being triggered by a wireless connection. Most flash guns come with a snap-on foot.





Could have been better pictures if I could have used that camera!