5 Composition Techniques That Will Improve Your Cat Photos

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 fram a shot AGH! The lesson? Don’t be too hard on yourself if you forget.

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 to a cat. Are you really surprised when a cat jumps on to a lap or a table to look us in the eye?

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 catio walkway, a counter surface or a china bowl as your cat eats. What do you have nearby that would be a contrast of texture to your pet?

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 because of her own dark brown coat.

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 usr one then worked out you did it later? Tell me in the comments!

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