This is Trixie, a kitten that I photographed a couple of months ago. Kittens play a lot. This one nearly took my backdrop down a half dozen times. Cute though.

Adorable kitten. These are very nice as always. I really like the simple white background you use.

James,
That is a very cute cat. I know what you mean about the playful destructiveness! I love the eyes. The catchlights and stuff in the eyes sets them off. I like the way the white background is exposed. And the poses are great. Even with your shallow DOF you managed to keep the eyes in perfect focus. One thing looks a little off though. Did you end up using a lot of “Fill light” in the Post processing? Something’s is soft and washed out about the dark colored fur.

That looks like the highlight/shadow feature in Photoshop to me? Huge apologies if I am wrong but it looks a little overdone? I do rate it as a tool but find it easy to over do it. Thats one of the problems in shooting high key.

Am I right or wrong James? If I'm wrong I'll buy you that beer when you are over next!!

Tomorrow I am off to Thailand to go elephant trekking so I hope it rains continuously in England for the next 2 weeks!

Bye for now

Hey Pete,

Thanks for the feedback. Critical feedback is always good. However, this was not a situation where shadow/highlights was used. I DID compress the curve a bit but that was all.

When you say that it looks like I over-did the shadow/highlights, are you referring to the midtones?

James

Hummmm interesting. The next thought I had was since it's "real", maybe what I am seeing is the effect of a healthy shiny coat combined with all the white. Since the cat is surrounded in white reflectors I am wondering is if the same thing that's making the eyes look so cool is also reflecting off the fur. Maybe a polarizer would help. Maybe what I am seeing is a limiting of the contrast due to reflections?

Hi James et al,

Pic 2 for me is perfect as the contrast level seems spot on. Great blacks at one end and a nice white that isn't blown out. Pic 1 & 3 look a bit flatter to me which is why I thought you had perhaps used shadows/highlights to bring in more detail (guess I owe you that beer!)

A polarizer would make things tricky as you are going to lose two stops of light which would make things interesting to capture a kitten who wont sit still.

What lighting set up are you using? The last time I photographed cats the owner tried to stop the cat going behind the backdrop and fell over (her own bag) and dislocated a shoulder. I was left with her writhing in agony and a cat that was spitting at me from behind my colorama. Comedy of errors or what?!

You could try a single main light with a triflector in front? If I do single animals I put them in a small cove (harder for them to escape) have a bowens monobloc with a large softbox with the triflector in front (to prevent it escaping hopefully) If I do large animals I just panic!

I am currently using a four light set-up - all Canon flashes. I bounce two off of the cieling to take care of shadows. The other two are placed so that I can keep the entire pet lighted properly from all angles. Usually I make the bounced flashes a bit stronger than the direct flashes. I have found that it helps eliminate shadows and helps the pet pop out.

You are right though about the kittens and the backdrops. This family has two cats...and I have a photograph of one of the cats staring balefully at Trixie as she was climbing up the backdrop. It is quite funny. If I can dig it out later, I will!

James

PS Next time I am in England, I will collect that beer.