Several weeks ago, Lindy (of the beautifully-written foodblog Toast, which you should be reading if you’re not already) asked if I had any tips for photographing cats. “I swear,” Lindy wrote, “they even look blurry in life, before I try to snap a shot. Why can’t they just stay where they are while you adjust the camera - like, say, food?” Lindy, I couldn’t agree with you more. When Sasha is reclining gracefully on the bed, I just want him to hold still. No, I’m not going to pet him; instead, I’m going to hold an oddly shaped black object between my face and his, and mutter to myself while the black thing clicks, and sometimes flashes.
This routine quickly becomes tiresome. Surely there are more interesting things for a cat to do.
If he’s in the mood, Sasha will sometimes show me how Picasso might have painted him.
Sergei likes to discuss cubism, too. Then he’s ready to play pawsies with Sasha. These brothers certainly do love each other.
But seriously, Lindy, I take lots of photos of the cats. Lots and lots. Fortunately, digital cameras make this painless; electrons are cheaper than film, so I have no qualms about deleting any (many) images I don’t like. With any sort of moving target, some shots are going to be duds. The photos I’ve posted here are about a third of those I took of Sasha and Sergei a couple of days ago, in a 5-minute photo shoot. Not one of these images is crisp and clear… and these are the best shots of the bunch.
Update: I shot these with the camera’s flash turned off. Took me a while to figure out how to do that, as I seem to be unable to read the camera manual. Shooting in natural light, indoors, in the late afternoon makes for longer exposures, and therefore - with the camera in my hands, anyway - less crispness in most images, and wild blurs in a few. However, the results - better color rendition, no strange shadows, no demonically glowing eyes - are well worth it. Someday I’ll figure out how to control the exposures, too.
Here’s hoping that some of the animals on board the Friday Ark sat still for their portraits. Carnival of the Cats will be stopping to smell the flowers (and peruse the cat pics) at Red Peonies on Sunday.
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I should have guessed that the key here was patience, and that I’ve been too lazy to take enough photos. I do think, though, that you have a special gift for revealing cat traits and moments in your photos. That paw thing is so great. I love the toes! A hoot, and also beautiful.
I am endlessly grateful for the little Canon Powershot A-75 my brother gave me for my birthday 2 years ago. Before I had a digital camera, I hadn’t taken a remotely acceptable photo, ever. This had always really bothered me-I could draw and paint, pretty decently, for heaven’s sake- why couldn’t I compose a photo?
Something akin to stage-fright, or performance anxiety-I think. Time pressure. The ability to take a zillion pictures, and choose, plus being able to crop, and otherwise mess with the photos later has been such a boon. I still feel I’m a feeble photographer, but I’m improving, I think- and actually enjoy it now.
I’d love to be able to afford a SLR camera and photoshop someday. I’m going to take thousands of pictures of Archie and Sid this week, and who knows, maybe I’ll even be able to post one someday!
Thanks.
Absolutely awesome photos. Thank you so much.
I get tired of that flashy thing being pointed at me, too. But sometimes the results are worth it. Like, when humans tell me that I’m beautiful, and give me treats.
Sasha is a beautiful cat! It almost seems like he is posing for the camera…but now we know the truth :o)
Heather will be hosting WCB #62 at http://azurelynns.blogspot.com/ if you have a kitty photo to share.
I always have to prop my little camera on something to keep the wobble out. Occasionally one of those lightly blurred pictures is actually pretty good and “ghostly” so to speak.
As usual, Sasha looks absolutely stunning in the photograph. I agree with you about taking cat photographs. I tend to delete a lot of them before I get one that is decent!
Kute Kat!
You do some wonderful work! Of course, with cats as pretty as yours, it’s no wonder. One question though: how do you get such good pics of Sergei? Our Ivy is a tux, and the flash washes out her black fur and glares out her white. When I disable the flash, I get a very underexposed photo. Do you just do what I do, which is wait to get lucky and throw out all the bad pics, or do you have some super-secret? The world waits for your answer…
yeah, I have to do no-flash because of the shiny coats my cats have, which causes flash photos to be colorless and strange. am about to try my first expedition into using a tripod, since right now even when they hold still I get blur…
Having taken many unsuccessful photos, I’ve decided that blur rather neatly captures the essence of my cat.
anne, Dee, Bonnie, D, DGAMA: Thanks for stopping by, and for your kind words.
Lindy: I think that having a digital camera, and the ability to digitally crop to the image I want, has improved my compositional skills. However, I’m not yet as technically skilled with digital as I was with my film SLR. The issue for me now is developing enough skill with this camera to get the shot that I want. (And thanks for the compliments.)
Aloysius: You are beautiful! Alas, the flashy thing is a (sometimes) necessary evil.
srp: Several of these shots of Sasha were taken with my camera resting on the bed; still some blur because of the slow exposure and kitty movements. Oh, and perhaps a matress isn’t the best tripod.
Well looky there! Sasha is catmodel of the week! How cool.
john: Thank you. May I plead dumb luck? One of the advantages of having a high-megapixel camera is that I can shoot Sergei from fairly far away, with the flash on, and still get good resolution without too much glare/washout. (Actually, I have more trouble with glare when shooting Lyra.) And I try to shoot Serg with lots of natural light/no flash as often as possible.
acm: I look forward to seeing the results of your tripod expedition. Pasha and Pixel are stunning, even with a bit of blur.
Isabella: Sergei’s essence is at least 50% blur.
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