My photo of the day is one I took of my cat Charlie’s eye while testing out  my new Nikon Speedlight.

First, before I go any further, the flash was bounced off the ceiling, never directly in Charlie’s eye. If you are going to try something like this at home, or even if you’re just taking everyday photos of family members or pets, please, never shoot close up with a flash unless you are able to bounce it anywhere else other than directly in to the eye. (A note that’s something you can’t do with a built in flash) You can do severe damage to the subject’s eye, especially with multiple shots, even with a camera’s less powerful built in flash.

OK, now that we have that quick business out of the way… My original intention was simply to capture the details Charlie’s beautiful green eye; I was very pleasantly surprised at the final outcome. The end result was a very detailed mirror of me taking the photo as well as some wall decor behind me.

Most people know that, in portraiture, catch light, either a light source or a highlight of the light source,  is a very desirable effect. While some either try to avoid it completely, or Photoshop it out in post processing, catch light actually adds life to the subject’s eyes. It’s used quite often in other visual art forms as well, such as motion picture photography or anime, not only to add life to the subject’s eyes but also to produce a dramatic effect or help show what the subject is seeing. Quite the opposite, lack of catch light is sometimes used by those making horror movies when portraying  a person acting as a host to an alien parasite or a zombie, to show a lifeless effect in the host’s eyes.

This photo was taken with a Nikon D90 propped on the floor with a Nikon Speedlight attached. The flash was craned up to bounce the light off the ceiling rather than straight ahead and the effect was what you can see here.

"Kamera Eye"