Storytelling In A Cat Photo Series

Just as words can weave a tale, so too can a collection of images. Remember my earlier post about starting to capture your cat’s personality in a smartphone photo series? This post adds even more tips to inspire you to create your own visual story.

Telling a cat’s story, or recording an adventure, if you go hiking or travelling, in a photographic series is a forgiving way to practice your camera skills. You are going to take a lot of photos and you will have plenty to choose from.

Visual Consistency

This sounds fancy doesn’t it, but, don’t worry, it simply means applying the same rules to each photo.

Remember too that as long as you maintain one consistent format you can successfully combine smartphone and DSLR/Mirrorless images in your series. This means using either ‘landscape‘ – a wide rectangle or ‘portrait‘ – like when you take a selfie.

If you can, try to maintain a consistency of colour palette, or add this when you edit. You may be able to use a preset* for this (see definition below) or note down the settings for colour, tone and size so you can adjust your cat photos all together.

Take a lot more photos than you need and you will have plenty to choose from!

To Create a Series you Need

• A dash of patience to create your photographic series/story idea
• Time to create/curate your collection of images
• Time set aside to to sit and create and edit your series/story

Starting Your Photo Story

Think where you want your story to start. What is your first image to set the scene? Is it a cat on a cosy blanket after being rescued from the cold? A journey from kitten novice to Champion at the Cat Fancy or TICA? Or, a more reflective series like our series on Toulouse.

• I have named my series ‘The Brave Tabby’ after a young cat’s journey back to health.

I start my series with a cat figure looking out from the top of a fence. This image has been on the blog before and it is a positive way to start my story. A survivor cat looking hopefully to his future.

A Change of Perspective

Remember that not all of your images need to be carefully posed or dramatic. A touch of humour or a slightly blurred shot that brings back happy memories is just as important and teases the viewer’s expectations. Engaging your viewer’s heart is much more important than being perfect.

For my second shot in the Brave Tabby series. I changed the ‘viewpoint’ to a surprising shot of Toulouse’s shaved bum fluff. This reflects on how his life was nearly snatched from us due to a horrible urinary infection. It’s an odd shot and the only one not showing his head or face, but it’s fun too.

If You Have A Good Shot

Use it.

The shot below focused on Toulouse’s face and is one I really like. You may find you have a shot you really want to include in your story. Always been a good selection to give yourself wiggle room about the order you want to add your images in.

This shows a serious side to our fun loving boy and has a shallow depth of field (meaning his body is more out of focus).

Taking Your Story Further

• You will find that one or two of your images will stand out as landmark moments.

Develop the story you tell with each picture and don’t be afraid to change direction a little if it helps you. After the closer shot focusing on cat face face, I chose a strong image of Toulouse striding towards the camera. This is an active and positive moment with the focus firmly on his determined face.

This is, for me, a statement shot. Toulouse is a tabby cat on the road to recovery walking forward to increased health. You can see a little bit of motion blur in his front paw but I love the shot, it says so much about recovery and moving forward.

Don’t Be Afraid of Humour

This capture of our brave tabby turning to clean his fur looks fearless but funny too. I was lucky to get a really sharp shot and it makes me smile, so into the series it goes.

Experiment When You Edit

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different techniques. This can add depth and interest to your story. Consider one of these for your series:

• black and white,
• filters, or
• different cropping and framing.

Finish With A Favourite or Two

I love these shots. The first gives a sense of the cat getting close and closer to the lens and I managed to keep a moving cat in sharp focus, and the second is a bright upward looking shot that is a final triumphant flourish

Have A Collection of Images Already?

If you have a collection of images you can use the same steps to tell your story. You may have paper copies of photographs that you can scan, or ask a bureau to do this for you

Gather your images and select your favourites. You will find yourself drawn to the ones that resonate with you. Order them as a series to showcase your message or story.

Preset Definition

Preset – A” preset“, when talking about editing and design software, is a set of saved settings that can be instantly applied to an image to achieve a specific effect or look. These presets are designed to speed up the editing process by providing consistent looks or adjustments. Color