Hello Stranger A Grey Cat Photo Shoot

Over the New Zealand winter and with noisy building work across the back fence, the chance to get outside and photographs the cats has been limited so I am looking forward to a change of season. (Maybe to a summer Christmas too!)

I know some of my friends are the opposite and love the cooler weather and even snow but, things began to look up for us weather-wise, on a trip up the Kapiti Coast earlier this month, I managed a capture I am really pleased with.

There is an annual arts event called the ‘Kapiti Coast Arts Trail‘ based in the local Kapiti Coast communities. Two weekends a year you can visit the studios, and exhibitions, by local artists from photographers, to painters and sculptors to glass blowers.

• I did not think to check my settings and this was the result…..

When we stopped at one of the studios, we parked a little away from the busy centre and walked towards the cafe and creative hub.

On our way I spotted a watching grey cat so I stopped. (He looked so amazing I didn’t want to ruin the moment by getting any closer) and I was able to take a few shots with my zoom lens.

I didn’t get the exposure quite right as you can see in the first picture which is rather gloomy. But, thankfully a little gentle editing with the exposure slider in Luminar Neo allowed me to show the lovely cat very clearly. I did not even have to do much sharpening as I had focused clearly on the lovely green-gold eyes.

I do have one problem though. I can’t decide which of the portraits I like best. The ‘portrait’ up right version or the wider ‘landscape’ shot! I am still wondering.

A Last Edit

I thought about the presentation and decided I would adjust the crop so the portrait makes use of the Rule of Thirds like the graphic here and reduce the light to a more natural level. The grey cat sits roughly on one of the downward lines of the grid. I think I like it, he looks so thoughtful.