Are you frustrated or disappointed when you pose a cat and the pictures suck? Do you find you can’t get cats to pose for pictures no matter how hard you try?
You need to do two things.
- Set aside time to really focus on cat photos – even if it’s just an hour.
- Change your expectations of what a cat portrait should be.
Cat Photo’s – The Truth
Cat photos you want to keep may take time
You will need time if you love taking cat photos and are willing to take your own photographs. Don’t give yourself a hard time if you don’t get every single image perfect – For every dozen, you take one may be good. For every hundred (or thousand) you will have the Best Shot Ever.
Cat photos you want to keep may take money
If you have the finances available, you can commission a professional photographer like New Zealand based Jo Moore. The work of cat photographers is inspiring and for the cat lover who is time-poor, it’s the perfect solution.
How Do I take a Cat Photo I will Love?
I am guessing you, like me, love to take your own photographs. So let’s see how we can all take better cat pictures.
A professional cat photographer will have a great camera, lots of lenses and a tripod. You, as a beginner photographer, will have less equipment but you have one big advantage over the pros.
You know your cat’s quirks and habits and the kind of pose it adopts regularly. YOu and your camera travel light. Use your intimate cat knowledge to work out what kind of pictures you will be able to take. Portraits can be formal or informal.
- Does your cat yell a lot like our Dot Kitten is in her photos?
- Does your cat have a quirky walk, or look over their shoulder at you?
- Does your cat love to pose or have a unique mannerism?
TIP: Before you dive in, check your manual for anything that might help you. Check close-up mode, burst or sport mode for activity, and exposure so your pictures aren’t too dark or light.
Two Cat Photo Portrait Options for Beginners
If your cat is happy to sit still and pose in one place, you can try for a more formal portrait.
This works especially well if you have a show cat that is used to being handled and posed. You need to have your camera ready nearby and take lots of pictures from every angle. If you can have a plain length of fabric that contrasts with your cat grab it. Your cat will love a plain background!
If your cat does definitely does not want to pose like a movie star, you need to capture your cat doing cat stuff. This more informal portrait style shows your cat relaxing, yawning, playing with a toy, leaping or walking. These genuine and informal pictures can be the best you will ever take.
Informal portraits capture a memory that is as important as the quality of your image. Informal portraits can be really precious.
Work with the talents your cat has. Cute looks? Take the picture. Grumpy sideways glance? Take the picture. A roll on the sunny grass? Grab the camera and keep taking pictures.
TIP: To get the pictures I share here, I took dozens of slightly blurry off-centre or too high or low photographs. You don’t want to know how full my ‘trash’ got in iPhoto.
You will see from the photo portraits I am sharing here that Dot Kitten is a ‘talker’ and a ‘roller’ who sometimes sits still to pose. I know her character so I was ready, I was very patient, and I took lots of pictures.
If you have set aside time for a photo session. Don’t stop until you have dozens or maybe hundreds of pictures. Then look for the diamonds in the dust – they will be there.
OK, are you going to get busy? Have a lot of fun? Take pictures? Get busy and then share the results with us here online.
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Practice makes perfect, but sometimes you need a lot of luck too! And you’re right, even the pros take lots of photos that they don’t share with anyone. The more photos you take, the better your chances of getting that perfect shot.
A photo session with the girls would never work for me! I take hundreds of photos for that 1 or 2 that I can actually use. It’s tough to get photos indoors because I have very little natural light that comes in. Every once in a while, I capture that purrfect photo!
Even the pros sometimes have a hard time. I love Plush’s formals but I got a really good deal – the photographer gave me half off because he only got three good shots.
Treeno likes toys thankfully and his photographer got a good one of him going for one- because usually he walks up to the camera and all you get is eyes or a nose. We had Musette’s done – I was concerned, she’s temperamental. We got a lot pictures of her trying to leave the area, but she got some stunning shots too. I want to try again with Plush for this season.
I think that to get the perfect photo(s) the best answer is taking a lot of photos and pick those that are great.
Yes. The more you take the better you get.
Great advice as always, I do not have a cat but even trying to get good photos of Layla is sometimes difficult and I think I do like 6 photos before I get the right one. Love your posts thank you
Be prepared to take lots of photographs. Dozens.
We always love learning more about your family. We didn’t know Dot was a talker! This is going to sound strange, but do you have audio of her? I keep meaning to get a video of Ellie – or Yellie as we call her 😉
I need to video her!
Such sage advice and the results – your lovely pictures –prove the points. No fails in those 🙂
Purrs
ERin
Good tips! We don’t like to pose for pics so usually it means photos of us doing cat stuff.
You’re so true ! Claire doesn’t have time during the week to take photos, but she sets aside time during the weekend to do it. She usually takes 30 to 50 pictures, and usually the best one is the more unexpected shot in the batch. Purrs
I can understand about filling up the trash with blurry or out of focus photos. Capturing a great photo of a cat that’s not sleeping is like Pat Morita trying to catch a fly with chopsticks.
Most of us don’t mind posing so our photographer Mom is pretty lucky. We love your kitty photos. Thanks for joining the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
I tell people that most cats do get used to a camera. A cat lover just needs to keep trying!
I think I have at least 10,000 or more pictures of my furs over the years, and most are bad…MOL! A few are passable and a very few came out wonderful! Pipo hates to pose, though when he was younger and had a brofur to egg him on, it was easier…so I try to use the optical zoom on. my camera and ‘catch’ him unaware…but he hears the whir of the lens, and hides his face….sigh…too smart he is!