Every cat owner that I know of is overly enthusiastic about their cats. Cats are great subjects for photographing. You can have a lot of fun taking a lot of cool poses and pictures of your cat when you know how to do it the right way. Read below to learn more about taking awesome photos of your cat.
Photo by Cheryl Lindo Jones; ISO 400, f/8.0, 1/60-second exposure.
Cat Napping
Cats sleep more than most animals therefore it makes for a good photo to get a shot of your cat sleeping because you’ll have so many opportunities to do so. Taking a shot of your cat while it sleeps allows you to grab a close up shot.
Sunlight
If you make the observation, most cats like to sleep in the sun. If you happen to have a full size window with curtains, if at all possible, open them up. That way you can lure the cat to the window to sleep in front of it while the sun is shining through. Once the cat heads for the window, try to get a few shots.
The sun will be shining bright so you don’t have to use a flash. Your photo will have a nice natural look to it. Also, using a flash will cause your cat’s eyes to glow in your photo.
Photo by Antoinette van de Rieth; ISO 800, f/3.2, 1/500-second exposure.
Candid Shots
A cat, unlike a dog, will not respond to you telling it to stay in one place or sit. The key to getting good candid shots of your cat is to have your camera ready at any given time. Your cat has favorite places in which it likes to sleep. Take notice and try to get a few shots of you cat in their favorite places. If you adapt to your cat’s schedule, you’ll have fun taking shots of your cat in various different locations.
Being patient is the key when trying to get photos of your cat. You’ll probably take a dozen or so shots of your cat, but it’s well worth it when you do get the shots that you’re looking for.
I have three cats, and I’ve attempted to get them to pose together and it does not work because one of them has to start something with the other. If you have people at home to help you it might make things easier for you, but trying to get a pose from a cat will not work. As stated earlier, try to get them by taking candid shots.
Above are just three tips for taking good shots of your cat. There are many more tips but I have found the above 3 are the best in terms of getting the best shots and the most natural looking shots.
Photo by Jimmy B; ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/15-second exposure.
If you need more ideas you can use your favorite search engine and search for more tips about taking cat photography.
About the Author:
Keith S. Black from ReviewDSLRCameras has many different photography methods. He is a full time photographer and previously operated a Nikon camera review website.
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James,
Could you please describe your “nifty fifty” in some detail? A website would be ideal.
Rink
My cats eyes are green and used to show up a sort of milky pale vomit green if I use a flash. When photograph them now, I just use my nifty fifty (ninety quid very well spent) which works very well, even in low light. They’re both house cats (as in they stay indoors), and are both black, which I actually think helps show off their eyes even better. We have a glass walled front porch and if the sun is shining, I’ll leave the inside door open, and fully open the venetian blinds in there, cause that’s a favourite spot to lay. A spot of window cleaner (actually, cold water with a little white vinegar added is best), to clean the glass, inside and out, get rid of smudges etc, then put the lens hood against the glass for a reflection free shot from the outside in.
I photograph 25 – 35 cats every week as a volunteer for my local animal shelter, shooting the photos for their website’s adoptable cats pages. Volunteering is a great way to get lots of practice photographing cats (and dogs).
As your article notes, a major key to successful cat photography is patience, and lots of it. If you can’t get your subject to cooperate, leave them alone for 5 minutes and then give it a fresh start. Make the cat comfortable – speak to it in soothing tones, pet it, fire your flash once or twice at the ceiling (away from the cat) so the animal can experience it going off. I find that very often that act is a great means of getting their attention and peaking their curiosity for the shoot.
To see some of my cat shots, please visit my blog here –> http://wp.me/p1Pt7L-ke
I have never seen a cat with red irises using flash. I have about 20,000 cat pictures, of which about 10,000 are of my own cat, and about 2,000 of those using flash. Personally, I like the colored irises of animals in the dark, cats and birds particularly. Red cat irises might be the only color I’ve never seen. I bet they are pretty if they do exist.
Most cats in my experience will have green(ish) or yellow(ish) eyes with flash, although I did cat one cat with deep, dark blue irises.
I have three cats too and they often position themselves so they look really cute but the minuet I pick up my camera they are gone. It so frustrating!!!