Hi Mother of Two, I wrote the below for another website where they wanted to know how to shoot reptiles and the like, but it applies very much to cats and even people. I hope it can help you. The links are work safe and go to my site. In short, I would use an off camera flash, set to low setting, and use a shutter of around 1/100 or so to "freeze them" ... or just try window light. You might be surprised. Esp if a bird gets their attention.
Solarves
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I'll give you a tip (I am sorry I didn't read all the other probably wonderful posts and if this is redundant then please disregard):
First this photo which is old, I know, but I know now how I can explain to someone else concisely how to achieve it.
http://lifeinstill.zenfolio.com/p157...2238#h33e52238The main things you have got to know about using an off camera flash are:
1) shutter controls ambient exposure.
2) aperture controls flash exposure.
3) ISO affects the sensitivity of light on your chip (read film) and therefore exposure.
4) flash to subject distance is the last variable to exposure.
If you want to darken a background, i.e., control (kill) ambient light, increase your shutter to your camera's max sync (most dSLR's are 1/250th of a second, some con/prosumer cameras such as the Nikon D70S can sync at 1/500th!!!). When your shutter speed is slower, such as 1/20th of a second in length the shutter is open longer and this "burns" in the ambient light. Shutter speed does not affect the flash's brightness in any way, shape or form.
Your flash to subject distance is another key thing because if your flash is closer to your subject and the wall or whatever background objects are further away they will appear dark or black. Why? The inverse square law is the answer.
But let's keep it real simple and the simple explanation is ... if you want the background to show up, you put your model closer to the wall. i.e.,
1.
wall ___________
model $
flash* (45angle)
^ camera = brighter wall because the subject to wall difference is only a couple of feet. The falloff of light from the model to the wall is minimal thus resulting in a lit wall (increasing shutter speed or slowing it will affect the result as well).
2.
wall ___________
model $
flash* (45angle)
^ camera = black or dark wall. Why? the subject is further from the wall thus the light fall off from your flash is falling across a greater distance and cannot possibly light the wall. If it does at this distance your model will be stark white.
Think about this in terms of your model as a reptile.
Lastly, to conclude your aperture will control the depth of field. This in a nutshell is such that a low aperture will make the background very blurred - this is called bokeh and it's the smoothness of the points around your model.
Here is bokeh around Osa, note the blue, redish, pinkish, brownish softness in the background. This was achieved by setting aperture to the lowest setting (you can take pics like this with a telephoto lens as this one was taken with just such a lens or you can use a macro lens which is what the gecko pic was taken with). Those background colors I believe were someone's shirt or something trivial but you'd never guess it:
http://lifeinstill.zenfolio.com/p157...2238#h26623a43Here's a different portrait I took many years ago where you can see I used a smaller aperture, maybe f/8 ... f/11 or f/16. How can you tell? Because the magnificent clouds are relatively in focus as is the sail and boom thus adding to the dramatic element of this type of portrait:
http://lifeinstill.zenfolio.com/p531...21ab#h210421abIn short:
Use low aperture numbers f1.4, 2 etc. if you want to call the viewers attention to something very specific where their attention won't wander around.
Use of f5.6 or 2-3 stops above the lenses lowest aperture rating will usually result in the sharpest results (obviously the Olympus 50mm f/2 lens as used in the animal pics above shows its capability). Incorporate higher f ratings such as f8, f10, etc. when you want to include the scenery. I would use higher apertures if I were photographing a model WITH a snake so that both are in focus (if that's what I wanted).
I hope this helps.
This post was edited by Solarves on Oct 30 2009 02:48pm