The Peanut Principle......

A part of our Tuesday rituals is to clean the bedroom linens.  What that happens, it is like a holiday for the kids.  Folded comforters and warm sheets are better than any new cat toy that comes down the road.  One has to be very careful when navigating the clean clothes that aren't folded - as there is a better than even chance there is a critter holed up in a nice warm environment.
And that is what I saw today.  This is the little Peanut - formal name of Emma.
One might confuse this tactic of curling up in a folded comforter as a sign of impending cold and wind and snow.  It is not - it is a sign today is Tuesday.

To be fair to Nikon, this was not totally an AUTO shot.  I'm not sure my AUTO setting works - it's been so long since it has been used.  But this is why I do what I do with photographs.  This was taken with ISO 200, F9 and a 15 second speed.  Not 1/15 - but 15 seconds.  The fact peanut didn't move (much) for 15 seconds while awake, is somewhat of an indoor record.  There is a lot of contrast here.  There is the sunlight in the upper right hand corner and the black color of her nose.  That's a lot for one camera to capture.  then there is the histogram.

What I do see here is Peanut's nose is not as dark as it is in real life, but the expected blown whites are there.  Simply - I need to move everything to the left.

Using HDR won't be enough for this project.  Getting the Peanut to sit still for 15 seconds twice in one day is too much to ask.  I don't like using a flash here.  I think it would ruin the ambient lighting and irritate the subject.  

The first thing to do is move the ISO to 800.  I should be able to get to 1-2 seconds.  I will risk the 'noise', but in previous tests my camera handles 800 very well.

I will still use f9 - as I want to capture a lot a area, almost two feet in focus.

Changing the ISO from 200 to 800 gives me these shots.

I turned out to be very lucky.  The longest shot was 1.6 seconds.  She stayed still for 15 seconds - but this time I could get the three shots.

And that made for a pretty good photo to start with.

There is a lot of sharpness - the fur and whiskers really stand out.  On the right side of her face, it is completely lit up and you can see what are very close to her real colors.

Clearly this needs some more work if I want it to go any further.  The top needs to be replaced.  This will be a nice print in the house.