Cat for a towel

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Archive 2009 · Cat for a towel

RT v Genugten
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p.1 #1 · Cat for a towel

Needed the cat for not clipping the highlights (kidding ofcourse

)
The little guy is our little guy!

RT.

Edited on Nov 02, 2009 at 09:16 PM · View previous versions

Nov 02, 2009 at 07:11 PM

sprocket87
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p.1 #2 · Cat for a towel

Would you be mad if I said I liked the cat shot more?

Just kidding - nice shots! The light looks very nice.

Nov 02, 2009 at 07:46 PM

timhpark
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p.1 #3 · Cat for a towel

well done! that cat shot is wonderful. great control of all the whites!

Nov 02, 2009 at 07:54 PM

seebeyond
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p.1 #4 · Cat for a towel

So people are using white cats instead of white towels now? Great shots.

Nov 02, 2009 at 08:26 PM

cgardner
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p.1 #5 · Cat for a towel

Last time I checked my towel didn't need to be fed or a litter box...

Kidding aside you missed the point of the exercise and blew the red channel in the kid's face. Open in Levels, hold down alt/opt, and click the highlight slider and you'll see what I'm talking about.

For the cat or towel to be of any real use it needs to be placed in the shot where you want the exposure correct; i.e., next to the highlight side the kid's face.

I'll leave it up to you to decide whether its easier to get the cat or a towel up there.

Nov 02, 2009 at 08:43 PM

RT v Genugten
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p.1 #6 · Cat for a towel

cgardner wrote:
Last time I checked my towel didn't need to be fed or a litter box...

Kidding aside you missed the point of the exercise and blew the red channel in the kid's face. Open in Levels, hold down alt/opt, and click the highlight slider and you'll see what I'm talking about.

For the cat or towel to be of any real use it needs to be placed in the shot where you want the exposure correct; i.e., next to the highlight side the kid's face.

I'll leave it up to you to decide whether its easier to get the cat or a towel up there.

Thanks Chuck!
I read a lot of your extensive and very informative answerings on this forum. They were very helpfull and I learned a lot from it.
Hence, the title "cat for a towel", was with a big blink of the eye.
I didn't get highlight alerts for the reds while processing. Lighting was measured 1/3 below clipping whites (just above chair),
Considered this being most important.
The white cat almost ruined the paper backdrop, but before chasing it away (mind: no cats were harmed), I took a few snaps
Thanks again for replying, Ill check on the reds and see how to improve those!

RT.

addendum

Checked the raw files and the jpegs
The blown reds are introduced by poor processing by me, the raws are fine
Thanks for the alt/slider trick!

Edited on Nov 02, 2009 at 09:06 PM · View previous versions

Nov 02, 2009 at 08:54 PM

RT v Genugten
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p.1 #7 · Cat for a towel

sprocket87 wrote:
Would you be mad if I said I liked the cat shot more?

Just kidding - nice shots! The light looks very nice.

Thanks!

RT.

Nov 02, 2009 at 08:56 PM

RT v Genugten
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p.1 #8 · Cat for a towel

timhpark wrote:
well done! that cat shot is wonderful. great control of all the whites!

Thanks for replying!
Our white cat tends to show up everywhere you don't want her to show up, but sometimes you can use it to your advantage!

RT.

Nov 02, 2009 at 08:57 PM

RT v Genugten
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p.1 #9 · Cat for a towel

seebeyond wrote:
So people are using white cats instead of white towels now? Great shots.

Thanks for replying!

RT.

Nov 02, 2009 at 08:58 PM

cgardner
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p.1 #10 · Cat for a towel

Its often the case that things change at the 16 > 8 bit conversion to JPG stage for web viewing which is why the Levels trick is helpful as a final QC check. I suspected clipping occurred in editing because your test shot of the cat, when checked in Levels, is actually about 1/3 stop underexposed. The slider can move left to about 243 before the brightest highlights on edge of the chair start to click (about 1/3 stop).

I also noticed you kept the background darker as I suggest, which makes the white furniture seem whiter by comparison perceptually.

When you do photograph the cat as the star of the show try using silver umbrellas vs soft boxes. The specular reflections in the highlights in combination with the more distinct shadows creates a more realistic illusion of 3D on white fur than the more diffuse light from a SB.

Chuck

Nov 02, 2009 at 09:42 PM

RT v Genugten
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p.1 #11 · Cat for a towel

cgardner wrote:
Its often the case that things change at the 16 > 8 bit conversion to JPG stage for web viewing which is why the Levels trick is helpful as a final QC check. I suspected clipping occurred in editing because your test shot of the cat, when checked in Levels, is actually about 1/3 stop underexposed. The slider can move left to about 243 before the brightest highlights on edge of the chair start to click (about 1/3 stop).

I also noticed you kept the background darker as I suggest, which makes the white furniture seem whiter by comparison perceptually.

When you do photograph the cat as the star of the show try using silver umbrellas vs soft boxes. The specular reflections in the highlights in combination with the more distinct shadows creates a more realistic illusion of 3D on white fur than the more diffuse light from a SB.

Chuck

As a test I reprocessed this image, with testing for added clipping by processing, with the level trick.
Found that: RAW: ok, converting 16->8bit adds clipping (minor), adjusting image size adds clipping (minor), and converting RGB > SRGB adds clipping (major!)

This image has the reds clipped in his face too!
Q: assuming the lighting is acceptably right, what is the best way to avoid or solve this inevitably (?) introduced clipping of the reds? (desaturation of reds a tad?)

Thanks again,

RT.

Edited on Nov 02, 2009 at 10:16 PM · View previous versions

Nov 02, 2009 at 10:03 PM

EvitaPeron
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p.1 #12 · Cat for a towel

I love that cat

Nov 02, 2009 at 10:05 PM

RT v Genugten
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p.1 #13 · Cat for a towel

EvitaPeron wrote:
I love that cat

Thanks!
I like your name!

RT.

Nov 02, 2009 at 10:11 PM

cgardner
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p.1 #14 · Cat for a towel

Part of process control is anticipation on the front end what the final product will look like.

To avoid clipping in the reds start with 1/3 stop less exposure when you shoot. The reason I recommend the towel next to the face trick is because the towel clips in all three channels about the same time as red clips in the skin. So if you keep the towel which you can see 1/3 stop below the point it clips in the playback, then you will also be keeping the red channel in the skin you can't see in the playback 1/3 stop below clipping.

Now that you know what to look for, shoot a bracketed test series and run them through the complete RAW > JPG cycle. Find the best looking one, then go back to the same file in the camera and examine the playback warning and how much more exposure it takes before the towel clips if it isn't already. That will tell you how much to back off the exposure from the point of clipping when shooting to preserve the highlight detail all the way through the JPG for web stage.

Don't worry about the slight underexposure that might result in the RAW file, consider it insurance against blown detail in areas closer to the lights than where the towel indicator is located. Another advantage of the towel trick is you can use several around a scene to determine how even the lighting is on face vs shoulder, etc.

Chuck

Edited on Nov 02, 2009 at 11:45 PM · View previous versions

Nov 02, 2009 at 10:38 PM

RT v Genugten
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p.1 #15 · Cat for a towel

Thanks again Chuck!
Very much appreciated!

RT.

Nov 02, 2009 at 10:42 PM

Steady Hand
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p.1 #16 · Cat for a towel

Hi RT.

I liked both images.

I am not a cat person, so that shows you the visual appeal.

The boy is cute and I think showing him at that table is nice and with the action of reading a book is good too.

Well done!

Nov 02, 2009 at 11:26 PM

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p.1 #17 · Cat for a towel

They look very good. I actually have that same chair, Ikea, I believe

Goed gedaan!! Wit-op-wit is het moeilijkste!

Toine

Nov 03, 2009 at 10:54 AM

digitalbug30d
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p.1 #18 · Cat for a towel

beautiful cat...

Nov 03, 2009 at 01:52 PM

SJMD
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p.1 #19 · Cat for a towel

I like all three images
and the teaching from chuck

steve

Nov 03, 2009 at 04:28 PM

RT v Genugten
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p.1 #20 · Cat for a towel

Steady Hand wrote:
Hi RT.

I liked both images.

I am not a cat person, so that shows you the visual appeal.

The boy is cute and I think showing him at that table is nice and with the action of reading a book is good too.

Well done!

Thanks Steady!
Much appreciated!

RT.

Nov 03, 2009 at 06:13 PM

RT v Genugten
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p.1 #21 · Cat for a towel

debtoine wrote:
They look very good. I actually have that same chair, Ikea, I believe

Goed gedaan!! Wit-op-wit is het moeilijkste!

Toine

Thanks Toine!
Klopt! Stoel en tafeltje van Ikea, erg handig voor de kleintjes!

Groet,

RT.

Nov 03, 2009 at 06:13 PM

RT v Genugten
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p.1 #22 · Cat for a towel

digitalbug30d wrote:
beautiful cat...

Yes she is!

Thanks,

RT.

Nov 03, 2009 at 06:14 PM

RT v Genugten
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p.1 #23 · Cat for a towel

SJMD wrote:
I like all three images
and the teaching from chuck

steve

Thanks Steve!

Online masterclasses are what I really appreciate here on FM!

RT.

Nov 03, 2009 at 06:16 PM

Weiyang Liu
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p.1 #24 · Cat for a towel

SJMD wrote:
I like all three images
and the teaching from chuck

steve

+1

Nov 03, 2009 at 06:54 PM

Duncan Staples
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p.1 #25 · Cat for a towel

First shot is great. Very nice high key shot and you handled the light balance perfectly.

Nov 03, 2009 at 06:56 PM


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