Today’s kittens are lucky captures from my recent kitten photoshoot. I did spend time trying to capture fun kitten antics (like last week) but sometimes the kittens seem almost thoughtful with moments of kitten stillness as if they want to watch rather than be tiny hell raising hooligans. I try to get some of these quieter shots too, I hope you enjoy them.
Kitten Lenses
I tried to make use of both my longer lens (Canon 55/250 mm) and my 50 mm. The 50mm lens takes sharper photographs but doesn’t zoom so you have to “zoom with your feet” which is tricky with a room full of kittens. I managed to get around this by sitting down or kneeling carefully and letting kittens come to me. The longer lens came in useful for kittens causing mayhem further away.
My first share is of two lovely tabbies. I did not capture their names, just their poses but they were happy to lounge on one of the visitors who took photos as well. You can see a bit f smartphone top left. The front tabby seems to be wondering. What? Should I play? Or, should I nap in the sun? The wand toy suggests this moment of stillness may not last long.
The second kitten was a really lucky capture as I struggled with exposure a bit for the darker shades of fur.
A tired kitten begins to fall asleep on a sneaker, enjoying some sunshine in the middle of the noisy hubbub. The person sat on the floor didn’t move while the kitten napped and you can see the sun shining on the fur of a well looked after kitten waiting for his forever home.
The third kitten, another black boy, shows that a closely cropped photograph can focus on a lovely kitten face once the busy and unsuccessful background is removed (I am including the second unedited shot). The original photo looks unfocused and is not a success, but see how it is transformed by cropping. The black kitten’s eye is sharp and his fur clear as he watches other kittens running around. I was pleased to see I got the settings right!
You can see three layers in the photograph. Closest to you there is out of focus carpet then, like the filling on a sandwich, a sharply in focus kitten and, beyond him, a sightly overexposed background where a pink shirt is catching the sun. It’s not perfect, but I love how quiet and thoughtful the kitten is.
Have you ever taken kitten photos? Do you find them harder to snap that more grown up cats?
Cat Photographer, Instructor and Writer
Professional Member of the Cat Writers Association,
Winner of the Kuykendall Image Award
Published at the Guardian newspaper
