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Here we have my black cat again....


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I'm not sure there is a way to lighten her and keep the background detailed. There's just too much difference in the light level between them. If you were using film I'd say use something like Superia Reala for the extra range and scan it so you can tweak the curves yourself.
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Well, take the image with the cat, expose for the cat so that detail is there. Take off your left shoe, throw it at the cat. When the cat vacates the scene, take an image of the background, exposing for the background. You will need to have the camera on a tripod, or placed on a firm structure so that the camera does not move between exposures. You will also want to lock the focus, so that the background stays nicely blurred. Now you can cut the cat from the image and place it into the background-only image. <P>Otherwise the reflector Stephen mentions is the best idea if you don't have a fill flash.
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Beau: The white cat is beaaaaauuuuttiful.

 

I'll try the two photo's in one method next time.

At least there is improvement. I still think this looks better than the cat near black and the background without any detail/near white. :|

I have a reflector though. (white/black/silver/gold)

No tripod. :|

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<p>Without the option to add more light, the only way to get the cat exposed correctly is, well, to expose the cat correctly. Cameras usually have trouble with backlit subjects so you'll have to dial in some exposure compensation. If you shoot RAW, you may have more ability to pull up the shadows after the fact, but since the shadows are where the majority of the noise lives, there's a cost to that.</p>

 

<p>If you have to get this all in one shot, that may blow out the background, but I suspect the cat is the most important part of the picture. Certainly, <a href="http://www.stevedunn.ca/photos/toby/" target="_blank">my cat</a> believes that the cat is the most important part of any picture, and as his teeth are sharper than mine, who am I to argue?</p>

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hmmm... don't see an edit button...

 

Keep in mind, this is a back lit black cat. It should look as such IMHO. Making the body a noisy charcoal grey doesn't really do much for me.

 

To the o.p.-- you own a digital camera with no flash? Or is this a film scan? Or an M8? ;)

 

A little fill flash goes a long way, and I'd rather see that than noise that looks like my cell phone camera any day of the week.

 

Yes, mines a little snappy, and the eyes could use a green kick, but it was a quickie...<div>00KSiL-35645084.jpg.ef479a4470f44a9a093ce3fb353cdcda.jpg</div>

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