Welcome to our second post on cat photo composition techniques. I have some fun ways to add interest, and introduce ideas to your pictures.
The Pet Parade is the perfect place to explore other blogs and learn so join us and have fun.
Composition is a skill you will start to use consciously over time. You work with an idea or search for what a potential picture has to say to you. As a learner, I sometimes forget to
Your message may be one of stillness and beauty, or drama and dynamism but framing it effectively can make a big difference.
Composition Technique – Isolate The Cat Subject
This is one of my favourite images of Silver our tabby. He is wearing his Tabcat tracker which adds a touch of spot colour, and behind him is an out of focus but still craggy looking wall.
There is nothing else in the picture except Silver. He looks pensive, thoughtful even, and there is nothing else to distract us from his slightly off centre figure. I tried to remember the Rule of Thirds for this shot.
Shoot From Your Cat’s Viewpoint
One of my favourite cat photo composition techniques. Looking up from the cat’s point of view.
This picture of a vintage cinema was taken in San Francisco a couple of years ago after the BlogPaws® Pet Blogging conference when we visited Savvy and her family. We visited Savvy’s local cat rescue Kitty Corner to donate our BlogPaws swag bag too.
I always think that we must look tall to cats, and I wonder how they see us. Imagine how tall this building looks
Talking of looking a cat in the eye. When Miranda is finished she will do that too but right now she is posed on a bannister at eye level which makes her much easier to photograph. Let’s just let her finish her toilette.
Design with Feline Patterns and Textures
Fur and terracotta tiles are not only a contrast in texture but also in colour. The rusty coloured steps are warm from the sun so no cat is going to ignore the siren call of a warm surface.
Your texture could be a wooden
Here is Spot from the cat cafe. His fur is a strong and soft contrast to the wooden kitty shelf he is lounging on. An artistic interpretation of contrasting textures and a cute cat who was later adopted.
The Cats Walk Left to Right Rule
This is a picture of Dash from 2007. It is out of focus but you can see he was a slimline cutie then. This is a composition technique that is not immediately obvious, but Dash illustrates a point particular to Western viewers.
We assume people and pets will move from left to right across our screens. We read this way and unconsciously expect this to happen. You could use this technique to provoke a response if your photography requires it by creating a composition that points the other way.
In countries like Japan where people read from right to left in their own language, this doesn’t apply of course.
Colours and Contrasts with Your Cat
Making a quick visual impression is easy when you can find, or create a contrast in colour. Phoebe, in this photograph, is surrounded by bright green foliage I did not have to adjust
Another way to use eye-catching colours with your photographs is a montage like this from our Probonix post for Humarian. If you have props in your photographs, you can reflect these colours in your image or Pinterest pin, like this example.
For this pin I used a template from Envato Elements. If you are not sure how to create a good pin check online for Pinterest templates, or look at your favourite pins for inspiration.
I recommend using a decent program if you can. Something like Affinity (Mac & PC) which has a one-off purchase price. Or you can try Photoshop Elements. I have just purchased Affinity and will report once I learn more about it.
Have you followed a composition trick with a successful outcome? Or have you accidentally
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Fantastic composition tips! I love Phoebe’s portrait – gorgeous! A dark cat set against that green background makes her eyes pop! My fave is getting down (here) at dog level! Pinning to share with others!
I appreciate great photography and I really enjoy reading these tips. Phoebe is such a beauty and I love that photo of her!
Such beautiful photos! I love the photo of Silver. I’m slowly working on composition of photos with the girls, but haven’t been as successful as you.
Thanks for the tips. It’s a challenge doing the shelter cat photos – limited space and resources. I do try to go for ‘texture’, and select sheets or blankets with an interesting pattern for the background.
I can never think of framing a shot – I just click and hope lol. I’m going to really have to work on training my cats to do tricks and stuff so I can them to sit and pose.
Shooting from down below was something I came up with after Jasmine’s horror. She could barely walk so she’d just lay in the grass and I’d lay there with her to keep her company. As I was looking up at her, it dawned on me that it would make some great photos.
We’ve been taking many photos from the ground view since.
Very nice photography techniques listed here. I do enjoy the cat pics with the textures as their background the best. I also enjoyed the light green colored grass around the dark colored cat. Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing.
Fantastic tips and I do agree with you the contrast in colors makes a big difference. I am learning that when taking pics of Madam Layla and see the difference in the photos. Thanks so much as always
Great tips! I don’t have cats myself, so I always enjoy seeing the cat pictures you share. I’ll have to try some of these techniques with my other pets.
I had PSE18, and after having had it for 6 months was beginning to get the hang of t, when my Mac got stolen…so now I am using GIMP on a LINUX machine, borrowed from my son the Geek; getting a bit more familiar with that program, but it is way harder to use than Elements.
I hope to have Elements 19 on my new Mac when I get that from the insurance…
You have great tips. I learned a few things about taking pictures from my father, but he did not know anything about taking pics of pets, MOL!
I never approach cat photography with any sort of plan or composition in mind – I just snap, snap, snap and hope for the best. Although I did follow Glogirly’s advice on ‘getting down to the cat’s level’ on photos, and that helped the results a lot.
I think I’ll try planning a little better and thinking more about composition – who knows, maybe someday, if I follow your advice my pics will be as great as yours!
Those were all such great photos and we love seeing that special Angel too.
Aww, lovely shots there and some great compositions, too. The AFFINITY program is awesome and I thoroughly recommend it—though there is lots and lots for the novice to learn so I am, for the time being, sticking to the editor suite on my MAC.
Lots of purrs
ERin
We didn’t know the left to right rule ! Great tips ! Purrs
Err … composition? #GreekToMe
I loved seeing that photo of Dash, Marjorie. And how nicely it illustrates the left to right rule. And the photos of Phoebe and Silver are especially striking. Bravo!
All your kitties are adorable. Nice to see a photo of Angel Dash. XO