 Posted 5/7/2007 4:52:10 PM
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| This is a picture of my cat. I got a new 85mm f1.8 lense, but could really use some advice on how to take better portrait shots. Any advice is welcome, and I really appreciate your ideas. Thanks 
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Posted 5/7/2007 5:20:53 PM
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Looks a little dark. I don't know if it's because it was indeed dark where you took the photo or if it's underexposed a tad, or a little of both. I am guessing it's mostly the former. The shot isn't bad at all but I would take it somewhere with more light. Seems like the depth of field is a bit shallow too. I am not an expert on pet photography or portraits but it seems to me that we would want to have most of the head of the cat in focus. I am thinking that maybe shifting the shot slightly to the right so there would be a tiny bit less negative space and the cat's eye wouldn't fall directly in the center of the vertical part of the frame, maybe.
That's my two-cents. 
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Posted 5/7/2007 5:28:36 PM
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I agree with the depth of field comment. You want your f-stop to be just low enough to blur the background while keeping your area of interest in focus. Also, I think a background that allows for some more contrast in the shot would be good. In this case, it's a tan background and a tan-ish cat. More light would definitely be good and catchlights in the eyes are a must to make something look alive.
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Posted 5/7/2007 5:35:56 PM
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| Thank you very much for the advice. I tend to shoot a bit underexposed intentionally for outdoor shots, but never seem to know how to properly adjust it for indoor lighting, or I just don't really know proper exposure when I see it. I will try the lighting and composition suggestions you recommended and see if I get a more pleasing shot. Thank you both for the tips!
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Posted 5/7/2007 5:43:07 PM
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| The depth of field is too shallow. I would stop down and increase your ISO.
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Posted 5/7/2007 5:52:48 PM
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| I will give that a try as well, I tend to limit myself at ISO 100. Can you give me some guidelines to determine the right stop and iso for a good DOF and exposure for general indoor lighting? This shot was taking in a relatively small room but with pretty bright light. I have to admit that I never know where to begin in terms of aperature and speed. Thanks.
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Posted 5/7/2007 5:57:04 PM
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I'm not convinced that the DOF issue isn't more of a focal point selection problem rather than an actual DOF problem. I see no softening of forward most elements so perhaps focusing at the rear of the nose rather than the tip would have had the image focus fall off at the right point. I rather like the amount/rate of fall off but also would have like to see it extend more into the image.
As to the lightness.. When I pulled it into PS to evaluate it I was surprised that the highest highlights were so dense. By pulling the highest highlights to a density of 0 and moving the midtone slider just a hair (pardon the pun) toward the highlights you end up with an image that has both depth and shadow detail.
I liked the overall tone of the image and rather liked the tan on tan. There seemed to be just enough interest in the image to pull the eye in and once there it rewarded the viewer with details that were not obvious at first glance..
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Posted 5/7/2007 6:30:12 PM
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| another great point of view, thank you. I have my work cut out for me, but I will try all the suggestions and see what works best. Thank you all!!!
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Posted 5/8/2007 2:49:50 AM
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Spruce009 (5/7/2007)
I will give that a try as well, I tend to limit myself at ISO 100. Can you give me some guidelines to determine the right stop and iso for a good DOF and exposure for general indoor lighting? This shot was taking in a relatively small room but with pretty bright light. I have to admit that I never know where to begin in terms of aperature and speed. Thanks.What kind of camera are you using? Normally using the lowest possible ISO results in the least noisy image, but sometimes it forces too slow of a shutter speed and/or too wide of an aperture. Don't be afraid to go to higher ISO to get the results you want. Use the light meter built into your camera to get a starting point for exposure by setting the mode to Auto or Program and seeing what the camera recommends. Then you can adjust shutter speed, aperture, and if necessary ISO. Watch the histogram too. If it's going off the scale on the right side you have overexposed and should adjust. I use an 85mm f1.8 an awful lot for minimum light action shots. The wide f1.8 is great when there just isn't enough light for other lenses to work, but the DoF is very shallow making correct focus more critical, especially when the subject is fairly close to the camera like your cat is.
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Posted 5/8/2007 6:37:05 AM
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