Owl is a Model

I recently finished this owl brooch for a friend, based on the one I made for Giraffe's birthday. The black nose thingy gives him a more calculating look, which I like :) However, as a subject for a post all by his lonesome, I think he needs some help... which is why I shall reveal how terrible at photography I truly am!

Be warned, after the jump are lots of photos of (almost!) the same thing...

To get one or two decent photos for this blog, it often takes many attempts to get the lighting right. I have a Canon 550D, which is perfect for my "ambitious amateur" photographs since it can either be in full auto mode or let me fiddle around with settings. I currently only have a prime 50mm f/1.8 lens and that means that if I want to zoom I have to use my legs! Also, I have only the pop-up flash that comes on the camera, making me dependant on ambient light (and occasionally lamps) for lighting.

Last night, I got to play with the kit of a friend who is also a proud Canon owner - kinda like a kid with a decent kitchen at home getting to go play chef at a friend's restaurant :D Spaniel's camera is a much better model than mine, but his lenses and flash guns all work on my 550D so I had a play getting the lighting right for Little Owl.

This is no flash. The lens I have is fantastic for low lighting since it is quite fast, BUT there are limits to it's awesomeness, and that limit is one crappy 25W bulb on a fairly high ceiling.

Using the pop-up flash is of course an option, but it isnt very strong and gives a flat image with weird shadows - just looks like what you get on an ordinary happy-snap camera.

Spaniel's flash is very powerful (oh the temptation to add a cheeky comment here is overwhelming...) but when it's force is directly aimed at little owl you get washed out colours and some weird shadows.

I've turned the flash to bounce off a nearby wall to get more diffuse light, but my angle isn't quite right - the glare almost takes out his left eye completely!

Now we are getting somewhere! The colours are looking good, the shadows are more natural and you can see his cute little face... only the focus needs to be a leeeeetle sharper and I could probably come in a leeeetle closer.

 Aha! And there we have it. Nice colours, unobtrusive shadows, a nice focus with the eyes being the sharpest and a soft drop-off in the background.

So, all I need to do is colour correct slightly (its a little too warm, but only a smidge) and crop til I get that warm happy feeling that it looks like the work of an ambitious amateur instead of just an amateur. Small distinction, but one I take pride in.

Here tis again for easy comparison to the uncorrected/cropped above: