Taking great photographs of your cat, or any pet is a difficult task. Pets are always moving and when they aren’t moving, they are usually sleeping. Who wants fifty photographs that are blurry or consist of a sleeping pet. A cat is a particular challenge, because many are extremely independent.
While I cannot make sure that you take perfect photographs every time you work with your cat, I can give you some pointers and advice to help you try to obtain better results.
I have always had cats. I cannot remember a time when I didn’t have a cat at some point. In fact, at one point we had five, because I have a terribly week heart when it comes to strays and the area we resided in was laden with them. I found all but two homes, and they lived long and healthy lives. We are down to one cat now and her name is Maple. However, I have a lot of trouble photographing her because of her colors. She is a sable colored Manx, and her coat is dark. I have to have really good light to be able to see her face well, and if I use the flash, it often causes that lovely bluish white pet eye. Not a pretty site, unless you are looking for a horror photograph of your cat.
One of my favorite photographs of Maple is this photograph to the right. However, as you can see, there are many things wrong with it. The reason I love the photograph is the fact that I was able to capture her in a playful mood, and it speaks volumes about who she is. I was also able to keep the focus on her face and have the paw blurred, rather than having the opposite happen. I used a digital automatic set to “sport” in case she moved.
When photographing a cat, you have a chance of them moving at the last minute. This is because they are not like humans and don’t particularly enjoy sitting still. (most human children I know don’t like that either.) Keeping your automatic set to a sports setting will help freeze the motion, so you can get a better picture. I recommend spending some time playing around with your camera’s features and settings. Keeping it on automatic all the time, where it chooses how to take the photograph is not recommended, because you will wind up with many blurred shots.
The biggest problem with this photograph is that I had the background lit up to much, which drowns her out a lot. It would have been better if I had been facing the opposite direction, to have that light on her.
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