Brand New DSLR. Picture of Cat.

[jazzer1991]

Hey everyone, I am new to this forum, as well as new to the DSLR. I have a Cannon RebelXS. I am still trying to learn the effects of the manual settings on the camera, so I'm trying to practice as much as possible.



This is one of the first pictures I took with it. I would like to know what you guys think about the way it is cropped, and about the lighting. This was taken indoors with outside light from an East facing window to the right of the cat.

Cannon Rebel XS
55mm Focal Length
ISO 800
Shutter speed 1/20
Aperture 4.0

Any input is appreciated!

[boun]

I don't know how the original looks like, but if it has a cat with the ears, I would recomend you not to crop

also a part of her face is a bit dark
I like the contrast also between her ginger fur and blue-ish background, and her eyes are sharp that looks good too

[Laurenbiz]

I think the lighting is fine, but I do not like the cropping with the cat's head cut off.

Also, I am never a fan of high ISO as it can cause grain. With enough light like this, I would recommend instead having a faster shutter speed and a lower ISO.

[Sterling]

Originally Posted by Laurenbiz

I think the lighting is fine, but I do not like the cropping with the cat's head cut off.

Also, I am never a fan of high ISO as it can cause grain. With enough light like this, I would recommend instead having a faster shutter speed and a lower ISO.

That's probably not possible here. That lens likely has a max aperture of f/4. Lowering the ISO to 200 would require a shutter speed of 1/5 sec.

[inkista]

The square crop makes it feel cramped and incomplete--I think a portrait framing would probably have been a little better, along with keeping the ears and feet within the frame. Also, timing the shot so your cat isn't quite that hunched in the shoulders might make it feel a little less cramped. Square composition is probably one of the harder ones to master, so don't give up all hope. But it's tough to keep things from feeling static and overly-balanced with a square crop.

I also think you have some technical issues with sharpness, mostly linked to your shutter speed. You did a good job, though, of placing focus properly on the eyes.

You're really pushing things going down to 1/20s even with IS. Since I assume you're using the 18-55 kit lens, you probably couldn't open up the aperture any wider, so I'd actually recommend you try out iso 1600, and watch your exposure very very carefully. Shoot RAW, and if there's room on the histogram, expose to the right and pull process (i.e., make the picture darker) in post.

What would probably help you more than any of this would simply be to get a fast prime lens to shoot indoors with. An f/2 or f/1.8 lens would give you a lot more leeway, lighting wise, without having to resort to flash.

Also, I don't know if you're aware, but you have just perpetrated the #1 cliche of all digital photography messageboards. Nearly everyone posts a test shot of their cat with a new camera. Hence the proliferation of LOLCats.

Originally Posted by Laurenbiz

Also, I am never a fan of high ISO as it can cause grain.

I've never understood this attitude, but then I've shot with ASA 1200 film, and never had much choice about grain/noise. But there is no reason not to use the high ISO settings if you know what you're doing. The first thing to be aware of is that 1/3 stop iso settings may actually be adding/reducing noise from the whole stops. The settings for 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600 are done by voltage gain across the sensor. The "in between" steps are being done via digital processing in the camera. The camera is either over or underexposing by 1/3 stop and then adjusting the exposure via the processor. [Added note: this is how it works with Canons. Not sure Nikons do it the same way. I think I read that Nikons may actually do the sensor gain across all settings, partial and whole stops.]

If what's being done is "push" processing (i.e., underexposing and then making the exposure lighter to simulate a higher iso setting), you introduce a lot of noise. If your're "pull" processing (i.e., overexposing and then making the exposure darker to simulate a lower iso setting), you can reduce noise, but obviously you don't want to lose detail in blown highlights.

And then, there's noise reduction software for post-processing which can also do amazing things. With my Canon XT/350D, I routinely used iso 800 and iso 1600 when I needed them and even push-processed my way up to iso 3200 and 6400 on occasion. Not using the higher iso settings is severely limiting yourself and wasting a lot of the money you paid to move to dSLR when you "upgraded" from a small-sensored P&S camera.

Whether you can see the noise at 100% crop doesn't really matter a damn if your image is completely motion-blurred and smeary.

[wadey1982]

I have to say Inkista even though its not my post I got loads of useful info from your reply. For a prime lens I can recommend Canons 50mm prime. It stops down to 1.8 so is very fast, shoot super sharp images and is very affordable. Its is my favourite lens for shooting portraits.

[Michael_2010]

It is a little hard to get past the crop on this one. Both the ears and the paws have been amputated for some reason. If the original shows the whole cat, you could have another go at the cropping. If not, experiment with a tight crop of that one clear eye.

I feed a feral cat that comes and goes as she pleases. She was sitting at the foot of my chair one night and I must have taken a dozen shots of the back of her head waiting for her to get curious and look up at the lens. When she did, I snapped a pretty good face shot. I cropped that one down to nothing but her eyes and it actually makes for an interesting picture.

[jazzer1991]

Wow! That is a lot of information and so helpful. I am brand new at this, and it will help me immensely to get responses I can gather information from easily. Thanks so much everyone.

As for the lighting situation, I do not have really good indoor lights, and the only lighting was from an outdoor lighting from a window, so that is why there is a shadow on the one side of her face. I will try to get her at a different angle next time so that the light is on her entire face instead of just half.

As for the crop, the problem is, I was just snapping pictures of her really quick before she moved, (which she inevitably does as soon as i get on her level on the floor) and I actually didn't get her full body in the frame. I did not crop out any part of her body. Just most of my bedroom wall and fan next to her. If there are any recommendations for a better crop as the picture now stands, please let me know.

Thanks again! I hope to learn a lot from being a part of this forum.

[Laurenbiz]

For Inkista: I love DPS because I always see so many different modes of thought regarding photography! I am not a high ISO/grain fan, but you may be, and that's okay.

In fact, I agree with Wadey about the 50mm f/1.8 lens. I love that lens, and I love it that the large aperture can compensate for letting in light with the ability to use a lower ISO setting.

I just can't quite agree with you regarding the idea that anyone who doesn't push up their ISO is potentially wasting money on equipment.

Nevertheless, I like reading the discussion.