Puppy In Natural Light

[In The Moment]

So a few days ago I posted a picture that I took of my puppy Kolby. The critiques I received mentioned that the lighting was harsh because the picture had been taken in a dark hallway using an on camera flash only. So, today I snapped several of him using the light from a window in my bedroom. No flash time (edit: apparently the flash still went off but I'm still wondering if the lighting is ok?)

How does the lighting look on this one?

[SusanH1970]

When I saw the pinlights in his eyes, it led me to believe that your flash did fire - checked your EXIF and it states that your flash did indeed fire.

Cute puppy, though!

[In The Moment]

Darnit! Lol. I wonder how my flash would fire though and me not notice it. Looks like it's on to trying again for the 3rd time. I will get it one of these days. Does the light look too harsh in this picture though? Or is it ok?

[SusanH1970]

LOL! Aside from the pinlights (nitpicky, I know, but a pet peeve of mine lol) and the bit of harsh light reflected on the tip of his nose, it actually doesn't look too bad.

Where was the window in relation to Kolby?

[In The Moment]

In that picture the window was behind him. Which is why I'm assuming the flash ended up firing. I have several more of him where I'm positioned on the other side of the bed- the window in front of him and the light shining directly onto his face. I checked those and the flash didn't go off on those shots.

Here is one of the ones SOOC where he was facing the window. You can see the reflection of the window in his eyes. Is there some special trick to not having the reflection in the eyes?

[SusanH1970]

Yep, that's why your flash fired. You camera metered for the window behind him and automatically fired the flash so he'd be properly exposed. The 2nd shot you posted is much better, and the catchlights are great! You want catchlights - it brightens the eyes and gives them life - with no light, the eyes look dead.

[Laurenbiz]

The photo without the flash is a million times better!

If your flash is going off and you're not realizing it, then I think you have your camera set in 'auto' mode. If I don't want to mess with the settings, yet not have flash, I stick my camera in 'program' mode so it can achieve the correct exposure without a flash.

But this depends on what camera you are using. Any Canon DSLR will have what I just described, and I think Nikons have 'program' mode, too.

[In The Moment]

Thanks ladies for the responses. I learned a couple new things! I'm glad to know that the catchlights look good!

Lauren- I did have it set to Auto mode. I'm really new to this so I haven't gotten the hang of the settings at all. But, I do have a Nikon and I do believe that it has Program mode so next time I will give that a try. Thanks so much for the little tip!