Exposing a dark subject (cats!)

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Mr_Kitten

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Ant
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Hello,

I wonder if anyone can offer some advise on how best to expose a very dark subject in an otherwise normally (daylit) room. I've got two black cats and I find it hard to photograph them - It's not that I particularly want lots of photos of them! It's more the challenge of achieving a nice shot.

Is it the same principles for photographing snow? (but in reverse?) or something else?

Thanks,

Ant

PS. I've just recevied my nifty-fifty in the post! I feel that I'm not going to have the most productive afternoon at work...
 
Hi, Try spot metering, just take the reading from your cat/s ignore the rest of the scene and shoot RAW. Trouble with in camera meters is they don't no what you want to photograph and they take the exposure from everything and try to find the middle grey. If you set spot meter on your camera it will only read depending on your camera 3 to 5 percent of the scene.
Russ
 
@russelljnr - yes, thanks for that - I have played briefly with spot metering, but I'll have another go!
 
Mr_Kitten said:
Hello,

I wonder if anyone can offer some advise on how best to expose a very dark subject in an otherwise normally (daylit) room. I've got two black cats and I find it hard to photograph them - It's not that I particularly want lots of photos of them! It's more the challenge of achieving a nice shot.

Is it the same principles for photographing snow? (but in reverse?) or something else?

Thanks,

Ant

PS. I've just recevied my nifty-fifty in the post! I feel that I'm not going to have the most productive afternoon at work...
Click to expand...

Yes, snow is less bright than meters read it. Black is more bright than meters read it. Bracket your exposues and pick what is best. You'll learn from that and know how much adjustment to make.
 
russellsnr said:
Hi, Try spot metering, just take the reading from your cat/s ignore the rest of the scene and shoot RAW. Trouble with in camera meters is they don't no what you want to photograph and they take the exposure from everything and try to find the middle grey. If you set spot meter on your camera it will only read depending on your camera 3 to 5 percent of the scene.
Russ
Click to expand...

Just one issue with this, spot metering a black cat will give a grey cat. The OP needs to know what to do with the spot meter reading:thinking:. The meter will read as mid grey whether you use spot or CWA, the advice to use spot is meaningless without further info. And the same info could be used for CWA (maybe?).

Personally I would meter a grey card in the same place as the cat, or simply experiment with exp comp until I learned what compensation was required.
 
Grey cards! spot meters! ?? Just expose on the cat and stop down two easy!:thumbs:
 
Thanks for the advice chaps.

I think the use of a grey card, although I'm sure is the correct way, would be slightly tricky as they're fairly fast moving little buggers. Hadn't thought of bracketing - I'll have a play around!
 
kestral said:
Grey cards! spot meters! ?? Just expose on the cat and stop down two easy!:thumbs:
Click to expand...

and how is he going to ensure he's actually exposing for the cat unless he uses spot metering ? Evaluative or centre weighted won't do it unless the cat is very large in the frame.
 
Here is my dark brown dog spot metered from the centre of the frame at 0, -1, -2 and -3. The example at -3 most closely represents the scene as perceived by the eye. Obviously the shot at -2 displays more detail, but it is not really accurate and is undoubtedly overexposed. Something like -2 2/3 would be a nice compromise for this example.

20130514_100510_.JPG



The darker areas of a black cat would probably require nearer to -3 than -2 in order to look good and black, but exposing a little brighter than -3 would capture more visible detail and give more flexibility to fine tune in post. Obviously fur catches light in different ways too, so there will probably be shadowy areas of deep black and areas which catch the light and look far less dark, so consider exactly the tone from which you choose to meter and decide exactly how "black" you want it to appear. Practice/experience makes perfect. :)

For a more complete context for the examples above, here is a shot from further back. This time I spot metered the same area of the dog at -2 2/3, locking the exposure manually before retreating to shoot the bigger picture.

20130514_102159_8436_LR.jpg


The WB is a little off, but the exposure is right on the money.

After some minor tweaks....

20130514_102159_8436_LR-2.jpg
 
Last edited:
@tdodd Thanks for that very comprehensive reply, Tim. Much appreciated - that really helped to fill in some gaps in my knowledge and has given me some ideas of how to progress with this - interestingly I think this will also apply to wildlife photography too - some shots of darker coloured birds in the undergrowth also seem to suffer due to my lack of knowledge/experience with this.


kabooi said:
:D:D:D:D:lol::lol::lol::lol:
Click to expand...

It just created a mental image after writing this thread that I'd come across as some mentalist surrounded by cat pictures...
 
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