That DARN cat!!!

[sjlarue]

I have been TRYING to work on using my flash extender(a.k.a. Better Beamer) for upcoming birding trip. But my new CAT Buddy, has decided that before the year is out, he is going to snatch a Chickadee or Nuthatch...from my feeder...so guess what was NOT at the feeder and what WAS at the feeder...So when life hands you lemons, throw 'em at your neighbor and take pictures of your DARN cat!

Now keep in mind I had my Beamer on and I had my 200-500 Tamron on as well...Plus because my tripod was in the car, I was hand holding with my lens maxed out...just to see what my flash could do....not the best combination. So I knocked off a few shots, in RAW and made a composite. Both of the pictures didn't need much in ACR just Auto Adjust (Why work hard when Auto will do?), and White Balance set to Flash.

First:

Second:


Then after some cropping in RAW, resizing and levels adjust to the inset picture in CS3 and a white gradient layer...:


Camera Model: NIKON D300
Resolution: 531 x 800
Flash Used: Yes
Focal Length: 500.0mm (35mm equivalent: 750mm)
Exposure Time: 0.0040 s (1/250)
Aperture: f/6.3
ISO Equiv.: 200
Whitebalance: Manual
Light Source: Fine weather
Metering Mode: spot
Exposure: shutter priority (semi-auto)

Thoughts?

[Quo Fan]

I love my Better Beamer. I used it during the day for a bike race on ice over the winter.

[sjlarue]

Originally Posted by Quo Fan

I love my Better Beamer. I used it during the day for a bike race on ice over the winter.

I bought mine last winter. I didn't have enough time to practice with it before the Spring Warbler "run". I am actually more amazed at the detail that it brought out in the pictures. The Tamron is not a sharp lens at 500 mm. At best it has been a bit dull with a tripod. These were hand held and at 1/250. I can attest that I could not keep myself still so all of the sharpness comes from the flash alone. Go figure. I'm going to have to spend a lot more time with it and figure out more about it.

The one thing that I forgot about it...is that it is a MAGNIFYER...my lens hood will never be the same. Better my hood than my flash...or worse.

[MSidPhoto]

The photo is still quite over exposed. You could try to increase contrast and reduce brightness and exposure. And as far as I know, I read this somewhere too that flash should not be used while photographing animals, especially pets as it frightens them.

P.S: Cute Cat

KazeFox

[sjlarue]

Originally Posted by KazeFox

The photo is still quite over exposed. You could try to increase contrast and reduce brightness and exposure. And as far as I know, I read this somewhere too that flash should not be used while photographing animals, especially pets as it frightens them.

P.S: Cute Cat

KazeFox

Well it doesn't frighten the cat. It is a bit bright, but I have issues with my local snapshot developer so I leave them a tad bright.

As far as the flash and animals go, they don't really have a problem with it. Especially birds. The trick is to not have it so bright that you light up the entire neighborhood. We had some birds at one point during the spring that would set there and almost pose both right and left while a flash was going off. I have taken pictures both ways, and the birds and animals are more scared of the big black thing that looks like a gun or the person carrying it, than the little flash of light. I would rather not use flash at all due to what happens with the color of the birds. But I only can do that in the early spring when the light isn't being blocked by tree leaves.

Thanks for looking.

[ridzadi]

I love cats!

The kitty is over exposed as a result I cannot really relate to the cat (now what I mean is when I see the image, I wanna go awwww kitty, not happening here).
I guess the subject here needs to be presented in a warm way.. maybe lot of color, more detail(fur) and less brightness.

Thanks for sharing

I love cats!

[sjlarue]

Originally Posted by ridzadi

I love cats!

The kitty is over exposed as a result I cannot really relate to the cat (now what I mean is when I see the image, I wanna go awwww kitty, not happening here).
I guess the subject here needs to be presented in a warm way.. maybe lot of color, more detail(fur) and less brightness.

Thanks for sharing

I love cats!

How's this:

[ridzadi]

Okay, better.

[Gaurav Prabhu]

The second batch looks better. I too feel the earlier one is over-exposed burning out some details of the cat. Nice Cat

[sjlarue]

Thanks. That cat is a terror on paws right now. The funny thing is that when he goes out, our outside/inside(when she wants to be) cat and he are still "getting to know one another" if you catch my drift. Winter is going to be fun.