Cat Expressions

[superfly]

Just one of the many stray cats that hang around my estate.
Shot at night with D50 with Kit Lens and built-in flash plus a bit of touching up in PS.

C & C Welcome!

#1 - Shocked


#2 - Stern


#3 - Apologetic


#4 - Sinister


Thanks for viewing!

[germ_boi]

Do not ever shoot a cat with flash. It damages their eyes. Thanks.

On your photos, very plain, quite uncomfortable with the half-cut ears.

[superfly]

Originally Posted by germ_boi Do not ever shoot a cat with flash. It damages their eyes. Thanks. On your photos, very plain, quite uncomfortable with the half-cut ears.

Oops, never knew that. Will take note of it.

As for the ears, I thought to leave them out as it has clipped ears (spayed cat). Seems like a bad idea...

Never mind, will get it to pose for me again next time.

Thanks for viewing!

[Hexlord]

Originally Posted by germ_boi Do not ever shoot a cat with flash. It damages their eyes. Thanks. On your photos, very plain, quite uncomfortable with the half-cut ears.

How abt bounced or diffused flash? Would that have an undesirable effect on the cat too?

[Koelsch]

direct flash would harm their eyes. =) bounced off flash would be okay as long as its not too much light directed into their eyes. even if u flash on humans, will already leave a temporaily blindness effect. imagine that on a cat. anyway you can always ask raptor84. he's a animal photography pro.

[superfly]

Originally Posted by Hexlord How abt bounced or diffused flash? Would that have an undesirable effect on the cat too?

My guess is that it should be ok. Direct flash may be a bit harsh on the cat's eye, but should not cause any permanent damage for a few shots. Just like us humans will "see stars" when someone shoots directly in your face with flash.

[superfly]

Originally Posted by Koelsch direct flash would harm their eyes. =) bounced off flash would be okay as long as its not too much light directed into their eyes. even if u flash on humans, will already leave a temporaily blindness effect. imagine that on a cat. anyway you can always ask raptor84. he's a animal photography pro.

Yah, maybe raptor84 can advise on this. His animal pics make me go "wow!".

Some articles I read on photographing cats does not mention flash harming the cat's eyes. They just warn of the "green eye" effect, which is equivalent to human's "red eye".

[Hexlord]

Originally Posted by Koelsch direct flash would harm their eyes. =) bounced off flash would be okay as long as its not too much light directed into their eyes. even if u flash on humans, will already leave a temporaily blindness effect. imagine that on a cat. anyway you can always ask raptor84. he's a animal photography pro.

Thanks man.

Superfly -> I did shoot some photos of a cat with direct flash.. I should be more careful from now on...

[superfly]

Originally Posted by Hexlord Superfly -> I did shoot some photos of a cat with direct flash.. I should be more careful from now on...

Me too... Guess if you really need to, shoot from an angle to avoid directly flashing their eyes.

Hmm.. maybe it's time to buy a proper flash to use as off-camera flash.

[germ_boi]

Try shooting in the day?

Cats suffer it worse than humans when there is direct flash because their iris are opened a LOT bigger than humans, (hence their wonderful sense of sight in the dark), and if being flashed so suddenly it'll damage their eyes permanently.

(:

[Timber Wolf]

Agree. Try not to use flash whereever possible.
Humans have an eye aperture of f/2.0 to f/2.8. A cat's eye has an aperture (believe it or not) of f/0.6-f/1.0 in the dark, so you can guess why their eyes are so efficient at collecting light. Of course, cats have a generally lower resolution for vision (trading resolution for light sensitivity) because of their lens design and retinal configuration.

In addition, cats have a reflective layer in their eyes called the tapetum, which reflects the light which misses the retina, allowing it a second chance to get absorbed. So..... you do the math and figure out how much more effect a flash has on a cat than a human =)

Still, nice photos! Hope to see more from you soon!

QX

[raptor84]

Wah how come got my name in this thread :O

Like what has been mentioned before try to keep flash photography on animals to a minimum. I have flashed cats before with my own diffuser/relfector for a built-in flash and it seems to help soften it a little. I think the built-in flash with no bounce really does make it too flat so try to shoot again in the day

Composiction wise try not to have the heads center unless its verticaly oriented. Even then keep in mind the rule of thirds when composing to keep the center of intrest at the 1/3 line marks. If you want to crop of the ears you can do so provided they are not part of the main compsisiton. Here is what i did (should have done some fill flash here) Photo is part of a large collection which i cannot release publicly yet at clients request (shot for an animal sanctuary in JB)

I can see that you have tired to go down to eye level and it does help because its hard to take a good picture of pets when your camera is higher than them. Next time try to capture the cat doing something intresting like rolling on the ground or catching it in mid-yawn. The better animal pics show certain animal behaviours not usually noticed.

[superfly]

Originally Posted by raptor84 Wah how come got my name in this thread :O

Because your animal pictures says a lot!

Really appreciate your input on animal photography here. This is really valuable information for me! Let's hope I can practice what I learned here and put up some decent pictures next time, in case you popped by again.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[superfly]

Originally Posted by Timber Wolf Agree. Try not to use flash whereever possible. Humans have an eye aperture of f/2.0 to f/2.8. A cat's eye has an aperture (believe it or not) of f/0.6-f/1.0 in the dark, so you can guess why their eyes are so efficient at collecting light. Of course, cats have a generally lower resolution for vision (trading resolution for light sensitivity) because of their lens design and retinal configuration. In addition, cats have a reflective layer in their eyes called the tapetum, which reflects the light which misses the retina, allowing it a second chance to get absorbed. So..... you do the math and figure out how much more effect a flash has on a cat than a human =) Still, nice photos! Hope to see more from you soon! QX

Wow! Very detailed and technical information!
Ok, looks like I got to shoot them in the day now. Don't want to see them walking into walls and falling into drains after I flash them a few more times

I think this is good information for everyone as well cos not many people are aware of the cat eyes sensitivity to light.

Thanks for sharing!

[superfly]

Originally Posted by germ_boi Try shooting in the day? Cats suffer it worse than humans when there is direct flash because their iris are opened a LOT bigger than humans, (hence their wonderful sense of sight in the dark), and if being flashed so suddenly it'll damage their eyes permanently. (:

germ_boi,
Thanks for bringing this up. Learnt something new today!

[bree]

what happened to her? the eyes are red...looks painful~ u should not take a pix of a patient.~~gaga

[superfly]

Originally Posted by bree what happened to her? the eyes are red...looks painful~ u should not take a pix of a patient.~~gaga

Yea, she got it recently but dunno how it happened. She's ok though. Thanks for the concern!