Kitten Look
A cute kitten, distracted by the flash light :-)
A cute kitten, distracted by the flash light :-)
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Mar, 2020Views
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Awards
Zenith Award
Curator's Selection
Top Shot Award 21
Spring 21 Award
Contest Finalist in Adorable Pets Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in The Cutest Pets Photo Contest
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Peer Award
Magnificent Capture
All Star
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Behind The Lens
Location
I had been asked by the kittens owner to come to their home and take some photographs, so we found the best place we could to try and contain the kitten which happened to be the top of a sideboard cupboard in the owners front room.Time
This was in the early evening but it was dark outside so there was no natural light in the spaceLighting
As it was evening the only light was the rooms over head light but that was no where near enough to get me a decent shutter speed to photograph a fast wriggling kitten. I took with me a single flash, a small softbox and a lighting stand. Unfortunately I forgot to take the right bracket so ended up balancing the softbox on the stand. In the end the kitten looking up was because I was running my hand over the surface of the softbox making a sound that attracted its attention. I also thought the wall to the right of the kitten would act as a bit of a bounce to fill in the shadow on the other side of the kitten.Equipment
This was taken with a Sony A7iii with a Tamon 24-78 f2.8 lens at f5.6 The lash was a cheap Neewer flashgun with a Cactus trigger system to get it off camera.Inspiration
Who doesn't love taking pictures of kittens :-) In this case I was asked by the owner to come and take some pictures, but if they hadn't have asked I would have gone anyway !Editing
Yes there was a little post processing to colour correct the white balance, mostly though the image is as it was taken. I mentioned before it was taken on a sideboard cupboard, but I had made sure there was nothing in the field of view I had chosen to make it as distraction free as possible.In my camera bag
My Sony camera and Tamron lens are the usual things I take with me, and if there is space I'll add a 70-200mm and a polarising filter, but other than that I adapt what I take to the situation that I am shooting in. Like in this case taking the lighting equipment with me.Feedback
The main thing with this type of photograph, especially if you are not in a studio scenario, is to try and think about how the light will move around the space you are in. In this example I choose the space on the sideboard to make a sort of corridor with the light on one side and the wall on the other so that when the kitten was in the right zone the light would fill that area and bounce back from the wall. The most important thing is to not stress out the subject, if the kitten wasn't having fun the images wouldn't be interesting. There were lots of techniques used to try and get some good shots, including making noises, using toys, getting the owner to be in line of sight and yes the odd cat treat to perk up interest.
