Hi,

I am new to the forum

I have been visiting for a while admiring the amazing work posted on here and reading the posts, I hope you don't mind me picking your brains.

I am an amateur photographer with an interest in photographing cats and kittens. I am lucky enough to be friendly with some breeders of Somalis who have been kind enough to let me gain some experience photographing their kittens and cats - great fun!!!
Anyway, I have been invited to take some photographs for the UK Somali cat club show ( I will be doing this to gain experience not payment)and really want to make a good impression. The show will be held in a leisure centre and so the lighting will be very poor probably. The judges have given me permission to take photographs of cats on the bench and there will be various opportunities around the show hall before and after the judging. I won't be doing any formal portraits as I do not have studio lighting. I suppose I just want to informally capture the day to the best of my ability.
To be honest its a great opportunity but I am very nervous about how to handle the light. I shoot with a Nikon D200 and am looking at investing in a speedlight (probably a SB800) Any advice you have to offer would be hugely appreciated as the show is in 2 months!!!

Thankyou so much,

Sarah Newton

First a few questions:

1 - What lens choices do you have?
2 - Are you comfortable shooting & processing in RAW?
3 - Are you planning to get studio lights and do formal portraits in the near future?
4 - In this Association do the cats go to a judging ring or do the judges come to the bench?
5 - What is the end result that you are trying to achieve? Is it for web shots for the cat club, or to sell photos to the exhibitors, etc?

Hi Preston,

Thanks so much for your quick reply. (I hugely admire your work by the way )

It's all happened very quickly, been asked over the weekend and now starting to prepare.

1, lens choice limited to my kit lens which is probably not nearly fast enough (18 - 70mm f3.5 /4.5)
2,I have shot and processed in raw before.(worry about space this takes on my cards though as I will be taking many many photos from what I can gather!!!))
3, I do intend to eventually get trained up and purchase some studio lighting. Up until now I have relied on natural window light and have been pleased with the results but very limited by this.
4, The judges come to the bench
5, The end result is to get some half decent photos for the Somali cat club web site.

Thanks Preston

I'll think on this some. But just to start a discussion that others can join in:

1- the lens is probably not fast enough to use available light, so use of a flash is probably needed (someone jump in if you know more about this Nikon camera and what ISO it can do well

2&4- Since the judges come to the bench, the light is going to be different in every situation...that is a strong driver in shooting RAW. If this is anything like showhalls in the US, then you may be directly under a sodium light for one shot and in the near dark for another.

3&5- If you are looking to do this 'better' in the future, the first impression that folks have of your work is very important...they WILL remember. So 'half decent' might achieve your immediate goals but end up biting you in the rear in the longer term.

More later........and, thank you.

Thanks Preston, I really appreciate your feedback.

I can see exactly what you mean by not wanting to make a poor first impression. The committee members saw some photos I took recently for a Somali breeder friend, were impressed and invited me to photograph the show. The dilemma for me is whether to go along in 2 months and give it my best shot or see if I can go along and photograph the 2011 show with some more experience behind me. It's a huge thing to be asked but I don't want to get out of my depth and mess up with the lighting.
It's a difficult one.

It may be worth considering renting a lens and couple of flashes for the week of the show.

I agree with Preston, rent a SB900, it has more capabilities than the SB800, do this now, because it has a huge learning curve. Also, go to Kelbytraining.com and join for a month or two and watch his video on the "SB900", and "Small Strobes, Big Results" by Joe McNally.

For lenses, I would rent the Nifty Fifty, 50mm f1.8 prime. It is one awesome little lens. Actually for just over $130.00 US, it is one of Nikon's more affordable awesome lenses.

Second would be the 70-200mm f2.8, but this lens weighs 4 POUNDS. It is not a lens to take lightly, but as a zoom it is phenomenal. This lens has wonderful bokeh, and is very silent and great clarity.

You didn't mention how far away you would be from the judges. If you are going to be close, check out Nikon's 24-70mm f2.8, another one of Nikon's great lenses. This one is on my wish list.

Your other option is to rent a whole setup, Camera, flash, and lenses. This will cost a small fortune, but if it gets your foot into the door, it will be worth the cost. If you go this route, rent the Nikon D700. I just purchased mine, and I have gone as low as ISO6400 with NO noise shooting in JPEG! This is one awesome camera. Obviously, shooting in Raw with the questionable lighting you will have is much better.

+1 for what has been said already.

I'm a D700 user and have been for over a year. I can attest to the 24-70 f/2.8 and 70-200 f/2.8 being awesome. I often shoot in variable light conditions and use my SB-900's a lot to bounce off of high ceilings.

I love learning by being sort of thrown into a situation. It forces me to prepare and look like I know what I'm doing Whenever I have to do this I practice a lot around the house. Get very comfortable with how the camera meters, how it focuses, how steady your hands can be when shooting wide open, how to get proper flash output.

Do you have access to the room that the judging will be in? If you can, grab a friend and have them help you learn how to get good, consistent results in that environment.

It seems daunting now, but once you practice enough it becomes second nature. I promise!

I hope this helps! Do you have any images you'd like to share?

~Kelly

Huge thankyou to you all, you have helped me enormously with this.

Preston, the idea of renting some equipment is great - I hadn't thought of that atall.

Sunstruck - I have been looking at the SB900 and from what you all say that's the way to go. The SB800 is difficult to get hold of now and the difference in price isn't huge. I would rather invest a little more if it puts me in good stead.
Sunstruck and Kelly - really really useful advice on the lenses - I need to build up my kit and will go and price these up.

Once again, thankyou so much everyone, I can't believe how much feedback I have got on this
I will post a couple of photos of my work later as I must rush off to work now!

It definitely makes more sense to buy the best equipment now and have it for a really long time, especially when it comes to lenses. If you have good equipment now it will be cheaper in the long run since you won't lose shots, the quality of your work will be higher, and you won't have to keep trading stuff in. It sounds like you know this though - which is good!