Lighting the cat

[OrionsByte]

Alright so I got up to look for something to shoot for some lighting tests and my cat decided to steal my chair, which to me just looks like volunteering to be the subject of said tests.

I was using a SB-600 in a shoot-through umbrella and bouncing that off of a foamboard reflector.

I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out whether or not my foamboard is actually making enough of a different to be worth it. I really ought to do some more structured tests with inanimate (i.e., not freaking out every time the flash fires) objects so I can really see the difference.

In other folks' experience, is white foamboard decent enough as a reflector for a flash when it's already being bounced off or shot through an umbrella or other diffuser? Is there something "brighter" I should invest in (the foamboard was only $15)?

Anyways, here are the pics themselves, which almost have nothing to do with my questions, but I figured I'd post them for C&C as long as I was at it.

1) (Umbrella high camera left, foamboard camera right, though I don't think it did anything in this shot)

2) (Umbrella high camera left, behind and above the chair, shooting pretty much straight at the foamboard which was camera right)

3) Same setup as #2. You can really see the foamboard reflecting in her eyes in this one. What could be done to prevent that?

 

[Derrel]

Not sure why you're also bouncing off a reflector...but ther quality of the light looks quite acceptable. The eyes do tend to reveal the placement of reflectors, and boards and panels *do* tend to show up as large rectangular shapes on eyeballs...

My main nit though is not the foam board reflection, but the one eye with a catchlight,and the second eye without...to me, the asymmetry of that is more distracting than seeing the light sources in the catchlights...I prefer to see a catchlight of some type in each eye. Other people might have differing opinions on that; some people insist that cathchlights be retouched out, which seems kind of asinine to me, but then, the world's a big place.

 

[MissCream]

I'm sorry I little CC but I just had to comment.... I really wan't to nuzzle the crap out of your cat, sooo cute!!!


Also a cat is not an inanimate object And the arm of the chair in the second picture is a bit distracting, maybe you can crop it out

 

[OrionsByte]

Not sure why you're also bouncing off a reflector...

Well, even with the shoot-through I tend to get harsher shadows than I'd like to, and it seems this kind of setup is used fairly often, but maybe I don't understand the "why" in that enough yet. I just need to do some more tests and keep practicing.

My main nit though is not the foam board reflection, but the one eye with a catchlight,and the second eye without...

Point taken, and I'll remember that. Having a more... shall we say, "willing" subject would help with that too.

 

[OrionsByte]

I'm sorry I little CC but I just had to comment.... I really wan't to nuzzle the crap out of your cat, sooo cute!!!

Heh, she wouldn't let you. She's mellowing out but she's not really the cuddly type. I think in the three years we've had her, she's spent a grand total of 5 minutes on my lap.

Also a cat is not an inanimate object

Yeah that's what I meant; next time, for testing, I need something that doesn't move around so I can compare the shots properly. The cat definitely does not fit that description.

And the arm of the chair in the second picture is a bit distracting, maybe you can crop it out

Good point, thank you.

 

[MissCream]

I'm sorry I little CC but I just had to comment.... I really wan't to nuzzle the crap out of your cat, sooo cute!!!

Heh, she wouldn't let you. She's mellowing out but she's not really the cuddly type. I think in the three years we've had her, she's spent a grand total of 5 minutes on my lap.

Also a cat is not an inanimate object

Yeah that's what I meant; next time, for testing, I need something that doesn't move around so I can compare the shots properly. The cat definitely does not fit that description.

And the arm of the chair in the second picture is a bit distracting, maybe you can crop it out

Good point, thank you.

Ahhhh I see, opps! The rum and Coke seem to have gotten me a bit confused... I blame it on the ah ah ah ah ah alcohol baby... Lol wow I just annoyed myself with that comment.

Also I'm a cat whisperer, they just love me for some reason even though I'm a dog person.. So maybe I could nuzzle the crap out of her! Anywho she is beautiful

 

[OrionsByte]

Not sure why you're also bouncing off a reflector...

Well, even with the shoot-through I tend to get harsher shadows than I'd like to, and it seems this kind of setup is used fairly often, but maybe I don't understand the "why" in that enough yet. I just need to do some more tests and keep practicing.

I just realized what you were referring too. Yeah normally I know there's absolutely no reason to point an umbrella'd strobe directly at a reflector. I was still just experimenting to see how much light was actually bouncing off of it. Most of the light in the shot still comes from the umbrella though, which was almost directly overhead and just a little left.

In fact if you look closely at the reflection in her eye, the board isn't really reflecting all that much; only one top corner is really lit up, and that's kind of what's got me baffled; how do I get the main light source to hit the subject with enough light while also hitting that reflector enough to make a difference? I think these tests helped me understand that better but I'm still wrapping my head around it.

 

[OrionsByte]

And the arm of the chair in the second picture is a bit distracting, maybe you can crop it out

Is this crop a little less distracting?

 

[kundalini]

Well, even with the shoot-through I tend to get harsher shadows than I'd like to, and it seems this kind of setup is used fairly often, but maybe I don't understand the "why" in that enough yet. I just need to do some more tests and keep practicing.

You will get a hotspot shooting through your umbrella, centered as the flash is mounted. Try feathering your light more by rotating the center spot so that it lands on the floor in front of your cat. This will soften the light a bit more. Place your reflector on that hotspot to bounce back. This will lighten the shadows. You may need to adjust the power up slightly on your flash since you're not hitting the cat with a full frontal assualt. :mrgreen:

 

[OrionsByte]

Well, even with the shoot-through I tend to get harsher shadows than I'd like to, and it seems this kind of setup is used fairly often, but maybe I don't understand the "why" in that enough yet. I just need to do some more tests and keep practicing.

You will get a hotspot shooting through your umbrella, centered as the flash is mounted. Try feathering your light more by rotating the center spot so that it lands on the floor in front of your cat. This will soften the light a bit more. Place your reflector on that hotspot to bounce back. This will lighten the shadows. You may need to adjust the power up slightly on your flash since you're not hitting the cat with a full frontal assualt. :mrgreen:

Alright, that makes sense. Maybe what I ought to do, just for my own purposes, is point the flash at a blank wall and take some shots with and without the umbrella, just so I can see how the light is diffused. I've been pointing the flash pretty much right at the subject through the umbrella, but it makes sense that that would cause a hotspot.

So I'm sure it would depend on what I was shooting, but generally speaking , would I want the focal length of the flash to be as tight as possible so as to minimize the hotspot and maximize the bounce, or do I want to use a wider focal length on the flash to try and fill the umbrella?

Like I said I think I just need to understand what the umbrella is actually doing instead of sticking it in front of the flash and calling it good.