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Cat-Photo-Technique
Cat-photo-technique -
any
budding photographers, amateur or professional cat join the group, of
course. You'll be in the best company. The company of Helmi Flick,
probably the world's best cat photographer.
This page on cat
photography technique is in
association with a Yahoo
Group I started called cat-photo-technique
(new window).
If you'd
like to submit a photo + description on this page please
use this input form - it will be
published as a page on this website.
So, what's it all about? Well, this is why I formed the Yahoo Group:
There are a lot
of photographs of cats on the
internet and on the Flickr website. Some are excellent, some are not. I
thought if there is an interest in cats and photography there could be
an interest in the technique of cat photography, a specialized form of
photography. Which leads me nicely to the next reason:
The best cat
photographer, Helmi
Flick, has given permission to
use her photographs on this website.
I have had the opportunity to see Helmi and Ken work in America. I have
worked with them. The gives an insight into the best cat photography
technique.
I used to be a
photographer in the early 1970s.
Although not cat photography I still have an interest in photography
and getting to know Helmi and Ken Flick I also have an interest in
cat-photo-technique.
In the interests
of trying to create quality content on the
internet this page and the Yahoo Group are my small
contribution.
The
cat-photo-technique group is evolving as they all do so things will
change as the months go by. At Jan 2009, I have decided to post the
following photographs that have also been posted to the Yahoo Group
webpage. These images can also be seen in the slide show feed from the
Flickr website that heads this page. The feed, of course, updates
automatically. The photos I select will also be updated (but less
regularly!).
Cat-photo-technique
employed in the words of the photographer:
"My
camera syncs at 1/200'th of a second and I needed every little bit
of it to catch this shot. To say Tomcat is "fast" is to say that the
universe is "big". Sometimes it seems he just walks around on the floor
because the walls and ceiling don't have anything fun up there.
Strobist Info: One
285HV
behind
camera-left with a shoot through
umbrella on 1/4 power. Rim-light is a snooted 285HV deep camera right
also 1/4 power. Triggered with PW."
Wesley says this about the photograph above - I have quoted him
verbatim for accuracy. If he wants a summary, please say.:
Camera:
Nikon D40
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 360
This is a perfect
example of what cat photography makes it so
interesting and worth the time. Personally I love the window on its
left and the blurred couch on its right. It makes me very much think of
people's portraits. In fact when you notice a certain scene in your
house or garden, try to get the cat there and you can get great
results.
Here you see the
curious look in her eyes, after I silently aimed the
lens in front of her. For cat photography I will most preferebly use
the NIKON AF Nikkor 50mm f1.8 lens. Why I use f1.8 lens? Simply because
you then have a great range of DOF to choose from, which can get your
picture very intimate.
One very
important tip: when shooting cats it's very good to shoot the
picture at the proper height. Preferably at the cat's height (of
course depending on what pictures you like). But this way you will get
very intimate portraits.
photograph by Wesley
Oostvogels
The photo above - the
photographer's
comments: A cute little cat I
found in Ghent. I followed it all around the garden
to shoot photos. Eventually this photo I liked best. It was drinking
from this ceramic pot filled with rainwater. Personally I like the DOF
which makes the foreground look so touchable and intimite. It fits the
look in his eyes.
Because the cat was
running around all the time I used aperture
priority so I could make sure the DOF was the way I wanted it. I used
Continuous-Servo AF settings to keep up with him.
Because I only had
a 50mm objective on my Nikon, and I had no others
with me I was forced to use this one. Normally it would be my first one
to use when shooting cats, but this little critter ran around all the
time and didn't seem to like my camera too much. So I wished I had a
short telezoom lens with me to make the job easier.
However
after a few minutes playing around he got used to me and came
to me to play. That made it a lot easier. I followed this little guy
around the garden and it seemed to like it more and more.
When he got
tired
(at last) I got to take this shot of him drinking
from the bowl. You can see he was still careful when people were
walking near us but his look made the image look much better!
I love the elegeant simplicity of these images.
photo
by JoeZeppi
--
Camera: Fuji 20D, lens 50mm f1.8.
I think that this picture shows good cat-photo-technique; nice
lighting, excellent expression.
photo
by JoeZeppi
For
me this spells dangers lurk outide. But it's enticing.
Gillian Spring lives
in Indianapolis,
U.S.A.
and is gaining experience in photography.
Sweet
simplicity would sum up this photo for me. Without showing more than
the cats's paws we learn at lot about the cat. It has a nice radiant
lighting probably because in part of the color of the fur, a
gorgeous silvery grey.
This
photographer employs a lot of photographic technique. This is a wide
angle image probably ambient light and I'd like to know a bit more
about her techniques. She uses film rather than digital, I suspect,
sometimes.
This
photo was criticized a bit by other Flickr members but I disagree.
Firstly it is different and that is hard to achieve. Secondly it has a
nice luminous feel and the expression is other worldly too making the
picture stand out. I don't know if Kerrie employed good
cat-photo-technique but if not good fortune played a role.
