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HOME » Close Up Tuxedo Cat Portrait

Close Up Tuxedo Cat Portrait

02/02/2020 by Marjorie Dawson 13 Comments

What do you do when you get a new lens or are gifted one? Do you do a lot of research? Do you look at the manual (like I tell you to?) Or, do you jump in full of curiosity about what your new toy can do?

I admit it. This time I was so keen to start using the 50mm lens I got for Christmas, I jumped right in!

I am working on a ‘new lens’ blog post for February but, for now, I want to show you a photograph of Thomas the tuxedo and share a few details of the shot for the Kitties Blue Selfies Hop.

Tom The Tux Close-Up

The day of the photograph is bright, but not too sunny and as I am using Av (A) mode the camera decided ISO 125 seemed like a good idea. The shutter speed is 1/60 which is not super fast. (Fast would be 1/250 +).

Spectacular closeups of a cat's face can be achieved with a 50mm lens.

F-Stop Experimenting

The one thing I was able to experiment with that made a difference to Tom’s close up is the F-stop. this has allowed me to get a sharp focus on his right eye and be a lot sharper than I have achieved before.

TIP: If you check out my cat closeup post, the F-stop controls show how sharp your picture is and how much soft fuzz you can have in the background.

With my new 50mm new lens, I have learned that this camera lens can go right down to F1.4. This is a very shallow setting. Had I used this instead of F3.5, Tom’s nose tip would be super sharp but his eyes and fur would have been blurry.

For every reasonable photograph I take with the new lens, there are plenty of almosts, and ‘not quite rights’, as I experiment with how close, or far away I need to be.

Thankfully the camera is digital and I don’t have to print out every photograph.

What do you think of Tom’s close up?

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Filed Under: Camera Skills

Meet Marjorie, Writer and Photographer

Portrait by a window with teddy bears Taken with a smartphone.Marjorie is a cat lover, photographer and smartphone moviemaker who loves sharing her knowledge with learners.

Marjorie is a Cat Writers’ Association Professional member, CWA Muse® Medallion and Certificate Winner, and winner of the CWA Kuykendall Image Award for her photography.

 

Comments

  1. Little Binky and Granny says

    05/02/2020 at 4:24 am

    Awwdorable Selfie, Tom💗😸Pawkisses for a Happy Tuesday🐾😽💞

    Reply
  2. Athena and Marie says

    04/02/2020 at 7:36 am

    That is gorgeous!

    I love my 50mm lens 🙂

    Reply
  3. Millie & Walter says

    04/02/2020 at 4:27 am

    That is a lovely close up portrait of Tom. Our mom likes using a mid range zoom lens (50 – 230 mm) when taking outdoor portraits of us so she doesn’t have to get too close.

    Reply
  4. Melissa & Mudpie says

    03/02/2020 at 12:14 pm

    Absolutely gorgeous selfie!

    Reply
  5. The Island Cats says

    03/02/2020 at 10:00 am

    Wow! What a pawsome photo of Tom.

    Reply
  6. Meezer'sMews&TerrieristicalWoofs says

    03/02/2020 at 6:52 am

    You did well!! Lovely close up!
    Petcretary might have to go back to her ‘real’ camera, as she had to ‘donate’ the iPhone6 she was using…its a P & S one, but she still doesn’t know/use all the capabilities it has…a Canon SX40, not new at all, but she loves it.

    Reply
  7. Ellen Pilch says

    03/02/2020 at 4:58 am

    That is a great selfie. Tom is a cutie.

    Reply
  8. Charles Huss says

    03/02/2020 at 4:22 am

    I have found it is very difficult to get a good close up of a cat’s face because they move too much, especially if you put a camera in their face. That movement means you need a faster shutter speed and thus a smaller depth of field. All that considered, I think Tom looks great. Keeping the eyes in focus is the most important thing and you can see from the photo that he has beautiful eyes.

    Reply
    • Marjorie Dawson says

      03/02/2020 at 4:24 pm

      Thank you. And yes he is very handsome!

      Reply
  9. Catscue Catmom says

    03/02/2020 at 4:02 am

    Beautiful!

    Reply
  10. Brian Frum says

    03/02/2020 at 3:19 am

    That is a most wonderful close up, we love it!

    Reply
  11. Erin the cat princess says

    02/02/2020 at 11:26 pm

    It just shows what a hard thing it is to achieve a great result and how good your pictures are becoming. With a fractional change in the point of focus and with shallow depth of field, you can blur things you do not want to or didn’t expect.
    Purrs for a lovely picture
    ERin

    Reply
  12. meowmeowmans says

    02/02/2020 at 6:22 pm

    We love Tom’s closeup! So glad you’re having fun with that new lens, Marjorie. 🙂

    Reply

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