yoda, looking at the softbox he is

[avkomp]

a while back I got a couple of cheapy softboxes of ebay that you can fit your sb800 or in fact any flash to.
never really used them but dug out the other day for a quick play.
I put the softbox on the floor cos I knew the cat would come to look if he saw it.
accidentally had -2/3 dialed in but this really gave the shot a good feel.

d4 200-500f5.6 @ 220mm 1/80 f8 iso 1600 sb800 @-2/3 ev full frame
cocking up the exposure gave me a shot I really love (can get lucky sometimes)

[eaglem]

A different but very good shot of a cat.

[LJG]

A worthwhile mistake because it suits very well.

[seaslug]

Lovely portrait.

[Ironwood]

Nailed it !!!

[Sully]

Being a crazy old cat lady ... I love it, beautiful capture indeed

[Isac]

If I could accidentally take a photo like that, I wouldn't faffing about here all day! Lovely cat photo.

[avkomp]

A worthwhile mistake because it suits very well.

that is what I thought too.

thanks folks, the softbox is pretty much pointing 90 degrees across the lens axis, and close to the subject. this means that no light will fall on the background at all,
so it doesnt matter what is in the background, you wont see it.

[avkomp]

If I could accidentally take a photo like that, I wouldn't faffing about here all day! Lovely cat photo.

you cant give artistic direction to children or animals,
but you can get cats to go where you want very often.
put a box on the floor and wait. all cats including the big ones.

so I figured he would go check out the softbox on the floor, so put it where I could get a shot, went back a decent distance and waited.
a longer lens very often works for kids and animals cos you can get back out of their face and they carry on doing their thing and you can get the candid stuff

[avkomp]

Being a crazy old cat lady ... I love it, beautiful capture indeed

thanks Barb. wasnt overly fond of cats but found 2 abandoned by their mother in my yard (strays use my firewood pile as a place to have kittens) both were near dead but we managed to had raise them with the bottle etc. was going to get rid of them after weaning but 2hr feeds etc bond you with them and they are still here. Yoda was another of those. he was left behind by his mum also, not sure if she forgot him or what because he was well fed, but he kept coming over to me, and had a broken tail so I decided to raise him too.
he got called yoda cos his little ears used to move like yoda's did as he suckled on his bottle. is tail had to be amputated half way down too due to no circulation in the top half of tail, so probably a good thing he came to me for help. needless to say he is still here too.

[Grumpy John]

Top cat, top shot.

[Alan]

Softie

A portrait to be proud of too

[avkomp]

Thanks folks

[sejac]

An exceptionally fine portrait of a beautiful puss. Love it.