[RussHeath]

Clockdoc -- These type of threads are exactly why I love DPS. Focused learning about key topics in an informal manner.

I've been on my own little quest to learn about light over the last few months. By reading Strobist, getting a couple of SB-600s, and driving my family crazy I feel like I've come a long way (I still haven't posted pictures as they are all of family).

Using paintings from the old Masters is a wonderful way to to illustrate your examples. While I have become increasingly comfortable with "improving" on the catchlights already in my photos (selective unsharp masks, dodging, etc), I still struggle with the odd picture that is otherwise sharp but seems to have no good catchlight. It usually happens because there was one light and it was at an extreme angle, but sometimes these are good pictures otherwise.

Is there a good way to realistically paint in a catchlight where there was none before? Certainly it would be better to think of it in advance and control my light in a manner that would give me good catchlights to start with. But it will still come up. Seems like a complicated math problem to me to try and figure out the most "natural" place to paint in catchlights that were never there! I know examples are useful, but I'm away from my home computer at the moment. Will try to post something illustrative soon.

Thanks for the thread, and I look forward to more of these!