[jerseyjay]

I haven't been posting much lately b/c I have been more involved with photography lately. Doing different assignments for local newspapers and enjoying private photo sessions, are keeping me busy.

TICA is The International Cat Association. They had a show in New Jersey and I was doing an assignment for animal newspaper. Although I'm not a big cat lover, I enjoyed those beautiful animals. I learned that people are extremely competitive and it looked like rivalry between owners instead of cats, sad but true. I was fortunate enough to get a spot on the cover along with inside page in The Animal Companion newspaper.

 

[benny]

Hmm....Such nice pictures of the cats. It's a shame not to share them....*Hint *Hint

Cheers,

 

[RoseHawke]

*****! Drooooollll ...

There's supposed to be a TICA show here (Birmingham, AL metro area) the end of March ... I'm waiting ...

 

[JanS]

Why was I thinking you meant Catfish??? ;-)

Great pics, as usual Jay. I'm not really a cat person (in part because of allergies), but I still enjoy nice photography of them.

 

[trenac]

Jay... Very nice work... I'm not a cat person either but the last pic is a lovely cat.

 

[niko]

Jay, tell us about the lighting you used to take these pictures.

In the last picture the reflection in the eyes suggests a pretty big size light source, not just a bare flash. What did you use as light for that particular shot?

Cat pix or not the soft light that was used deserves some explanation. The precision of the exposure and the light balance is amazing. I suspect that that's a result of using a Nikon flash with a Nikon camera.

For those that are not used to notice...The really shallow depth of field in these pictures enhances the impact of the "faces" - note how the "face" is tack sharp, but everything starting with the hairs around the ears and back is blurred . That's a common way to draw attention to the important parts of the subject. When shooting plants it can be used to draw attention to the best, most attractive or striking part of the plant. Or it could be a way to hide the clump of algae you have in the background :-D

--Nikolay

 

[jerseyjay]

Thank you all for positive feedback.

Jay, tell us about the lighting you used to take these pictures.

In the last picture the reflection in the eyes suggests a pretty big size light source, not just a bare flash. What did you use as light for that particular shot?

I always use external flash in photography (*when needed) unless I'm only limited to high ISO or internal flash.

Initially I used on-board diffuser on SB-800 Nikon external flash but I wasn't happy with hard shadows around objects.

I later settled for STO-Fen Omni Bounce which was a big improvement over plain external flash or even on-board diffuser. Omni Bounce is a great addition to your external flash b/c it provides exposure "all around / in front of the object".

I wanted to try something more "powerful" and I went with SoftBox by LumniQuest. I'm extremely satisfied with this gadgets which provides IMO excellent exposure and diffusion of the light. I can't imagine not using one in this type of photography.

For those that are not used to notice...The really shallow depth of field in these pictures enhances the impact of the "faces" - note how the "face" is tack sharp, but everything starting with the hairs around the ears and back is blurred . That's a common way to draw attention to the important parts of the subject.

Ditto. Well done Niko.

 

[JanS]

It's good to hear someone like you is happy with the softbox. I have the identical one that came with my external flash, but haven't played with it much yet. Now I have incentive.