Tip Tuesday – Cats

ByMelody Fisher

Animals are a huge part of my life especially my pets, they probably get photographed more than anything else in my life! We are all guilty of having 100’s of photos on our phone of our beloved animals. This blog will hopefully give you some useful tips on photographing cats. Schnapps my cat features as our model.

Firstly you will need:
– A cat (Schnapps)
– Phone or Camera
– Toys and sweeties!

I have chosen to use a tunnel as my main prop as I know Schnapps loves this so it will keep him interested in me. Try and choose something you want to focus on, e.g head shots I have also chosen a rattle ball, catnip stuffed toy and a tassel toy.

The main thing to remember is to have fun! Both you and your cat will enjoy this if you can keep it stress free and enjoyable. Schnapps is a very willing model as he loves to play which can be helpful but also make it harder as he doesn’t like to stay still, you want to use a fast shutter speed to capture the movement so that your cat doesn’t blur. I keep the toy close to the camera so that it appears as it the eyes are looking directly at you. The tassel toy is great for getting a cats attention.

Angles are very important for a photo. Try and keep at the same level as your cat as this creates an even portrait and emphasises your cats features . You want to crop in close to your cat so that you reduce the amount of distractions in the image, also using a shallow depth of field (blurred background) helps to make your cat the main focus.

As well as full colour images, have a play around with different styles such as black and white. I think this works great to bring out the coat patterns and textures!

All the images in this blog have been taken with a large window behind me to allow the natural light to fall evenly onto Schnapps.

So there’s 3 main things to take into account:

  • Angles, get on the same level as your cat
  • Cropping, get close to your cat either by zooming in or moving closer so that you make them your main focus
  • Have fun! The more relaxed and fun you make it the more your cat will show interest and make it easier for you