I have to share this lucky capture of our neighbour Taz! A scritch scratch from cat dad Paul brings out a purr of kitty pleasure from our friend. It certainly makes me smile.
The weather has been unseasonably warm here this weekend and we were able to sit out on the front deck weeks ahead of when we usually start doing so.
Also, the builders were not working across the back fence on Saturday so we made the most of the quiet time. Of course I took my camera out as well as a glass of wine and a good book. This may not be the purrfect cat capture but it gets a cute and sleepy look.
‘The Scritch’ – ISO 200 55 mm f 4 1/200
I also need to confess the day was not an entirely idle one of sitting in the sun. We worked in the garden and cleared some of the raised beds with a bit of help from the cats before they decided it was too warm and they went to nap in the shade.
Hutt Valley View
On Friday we had to take our car to a specialist mender in another suburb. We went for a walk around Naenae suburb while they took a look to see what work needed doing. As it was a chance to see a new part of the Hutt Valley I took my camera along too.
Paul commented that this is an excellent view of the Hutt Valley where we live. The flat and fertile lowland greenery of gardens and playing fields contrasts with the sweeping valley sides; much of which is filled with houses as some people pay a fortune for a view (but sometimes not so much garden).
Marjorie is an award-winning cat photographer, tutor, and published author based in New Zealand. A Professional Member of the Cat Writers’ Association, she helps cat lovers strengthen the bond with their pets by improving their photography and editing skills through short how-to videos and posts. Marjorie believes anyone can take amazing photos and show off their cats to purrfection!
On the 6th of September 2013 Dash Kitten was killed by dogs in his own back garden. Life has not been the same since and a lot of the lustre disappeared from our lives and home. This post is a tribute and a thank you to all the friends who supported us all after I lost my muse and greatest gift.
We were so stunned that a friend had to point out to me that the great Sockington himself had tweeted about Dash’s loss. The tweet went around the world. To be noted by a cat who was renowned himself before cat influencers became a ‘thing’ was a huge tribute to Dash. We were so proud and it remains a stunning tribute.
Friends Felix and Jasper (who do not blog anymore) gave Dash a Best Friend Award which made us smile so much. They were kind cats and good friends, thank you boys.
Our friend Puppy Number 7 on Twitter send us some beautiful memorial cards that still sit by my computer where I look at them daily for inspiration. Thomas himself is now a Bridge resident and his vibrant personality is missed.
A group of friends under the supervision of Newt the Cat created a wonderful blanket that still comforts us today. So much skill, care and love, especially by Newt’s Mum Lise who joined the squares together.
Best of all our friend NikePurrfektCat quietly arranged a memorial collection for Dash Kitten and raised $600 for a local cat rescue in his honour. A stunning tribute to a cat who threw himself into fundraising and helping others when Twitter had amazing parties to help the less fortunate members of our cat community, which included Bootsie, left in a trailer park with chronic ear issues – saved thanks to fundraising after Brian Frum alerted the world to his plight.
Friends worldwide created memorial graphics for Dash and we finish our post with a slideshow of these lovely tributes.
Dash Kitten Portrait
@Sockington not an award but much treasured as it commemorated Dash and means a huge amount to us.
Marjorie is an award-winning cat photographer, tutor, and published author based in New Zealand. A Professional Member of the Cat Writers’ Association, she helps cat lovers strengthen the bond with their pets by improving their photography and editing skills through short how-to videos and posts. Marjorie believes anyone can take amazing photos and show off their cats to purrfection!
This week I want to present a selection of images that show Toulouse growing from newbie family member with his first portrait, to his recent balancing excursions as a ‘character of a cat’ series.
The first photograph was taken on his very first day with us. He is sat in a window ledge and (if you look closely) you can see that the window is slightly open on a catch. Toulouse was curious about outside but didn’t venture out of the cat flap for 18 months.
Look closely and you can see Toulouse looking forward.
Toulouse the Tabby First Day at Home.
Cat Posing Expert
It did not take Toulouse long to decide that Marjorie with her camera was something he could ignore. This meant that he spent more time looking elsewhere than at me as I focused me new telephoto lens on him!
Showing off his Bokeh Background.
The ability to zoom in from a distance means I begn to learn to capture bette shots of Toulouse further away, like this first peep between two branches of a small tree. He is definitely showing his character cat credentials.
Not perfect but high up and the ‘whut’? look.
As you can see from the last photograph, I got a bit better and Toulouse didn’t hide away quite so much.
Outdoor Tabby Cat Pleasures
This trio show Toulouse’s increasing confidence as he ventured outside for some summer sun, where he made friends with his neighbour Wyatt and played with brofur Thomas, a tuxedo who is the master of quiet mischief. He loves to come sneaking up on Toulouse so they both to tumbling wildly across the grass.
Tabby cat in motion. Stalking his friend Wyatt.
Wyatt and Toulouse playing.
‘Action’ Tumbling tabby (Toulouse) and tuxedo (Thomas).
Thankfully no harm is ever done and Toulouse can stalk away with his dignity and young man-cat pride intact. This portrait of him striding confidently down the path is one of my favourites. I focused on his face, withsoftly focused grass behind him and a determined look on his tabby face and a splendid show of whiskers.
Striding Confident Tabby Character
Up To Date Toulouse
I finish with recent portraits of our now ‘so grown up’ tabby. He still plays like a kitten but has gained confidence and often visits our neighbour (Wyatt’s mum and dad) claiming he has not been fed for days, (and days and weeks!) and is very hard done by.
As we are usually still alseep with this happens (!) we can hardly be accused of neglect and Wyatt’s mum laughs at his antics. We try to reciprocate by offering Wyatt a bowl of our Royal Canin ‘Exigient’ which is the Dash Kitten Crew’s all-time favourite snack. He accepts our treat graciously.
Perfect Tabby Portrait.
Tongue Out Tuesday and Up-A-Tree-Thursday combo!
This is a lovely collection that shows the character of a cat called Toulouse. Mischief maker, cheeky tree climber and handsome tabby.
Have you ever done a set or series of cat portraits that capture your cat’s personality? Were you pleased with the result? Or, is this something you would like to try from the digital cat photographs you have saved? Remember you can crop, and edit your cat photographs to make them brighter if you think they will look a bit better.
RIP BONHAM
Bonham of our friends and lovely regular colleagues in the selfies the Lone Star Cats passed suddenly this week, with no indication of ill health. Needless to say he leaves behind a family heartbroken by his abrupt departure and there are dozens of grief-filled comments on this blog post.
Marjorie is an award-winning cat photographer, tutor, and published author based in New Zealand. A Professional Member of the Cat Writers’ Association, she helps cat lovers strengthen the bond with their pets by improving their photography and editing skills through short how-to videos and posts. Marjorie believes anyone can take amazing photos and show off their cats to purrfection!
Ever had a day when every cat photo you take is a total disaster? That was my thought when I downloaded the captures of our tree climber cat Toulouse! The downloads looked like black ink – terrible. How could I put them right? Let me tell you.
Don’t be in a Hurry
I was, but to be fair, I had to act quickly as Toulouse almost seemed to fly up the tree like he had wings. I grabbed my DSLR for a chance of some potentially cute, fun shots! But this happened…..
ISO 400 100 mm f5 1/1000
As you can see from the first capture, the cat and the tree are almost impossible to see. But, as I had shot the photos in Camera Raw I hoped I might be able to rescue some of them when I downloaded the photos to my computer.
It is important to get the exposure within at least one stop of the ‘correct’ in-camera exposure. This is because if an image is overexposed the highlights ‘blowout’ and the detail cannot be rescued. [The same applies to under exposure – detail is lost]
If you look at the quote from Digital Camera, this is why my photographs were under exposed. I was more than one stop away from a good or correct exposure setting. Thank heavens for Camera RAW when I totally fluff the settings on my Canon!
RAW saves each cat photograph as data, not as an image. You can imagine it looking a little bit like computer printouts full of figures you can’t figure out. Shooting this way means I was able, this time, to adjust the images in Affinity Photo afterwards.
TIP: The one thing RAW cannot do is take photographs using Continuous or Burst mode because there is so much data being processed the camera ‘trips over its own feet’ and stops taking photos.
Check out cheeky Toulouse
ISO 400 100 mm f5 1/1000 (Edited)
To rescue this cat photo from blackness I had to:
Increase the brightness substantially.
Sharpen the clarity of the cat photo a lot.
But, I realised that the editing was worth it.
Look what Toulouse was doing! Not only is he surrounded by gorgeous dappled leaves, he is sticking out his tongue!
I was able to take a lot of photos but only a couple are worth sharing. I also want to share this second cat photo because it shows a cat’s intensity as it navigates along a branch using all its tree climbing skills. I had half my attention of focusing the camera and half ready to catch him if he fell.
Again, I had to edit like a crazy person as the original was sooty black but, with adjustments to exposure and sharpness a rather fun and dramatic image appeared.
ISO 400 100 mm f5 1/1000 (Edited)
Why were the photos so dark?
I had left my camera set to Shutter Priority after practising some movement shots of Toulouse the previous day.
Of course, I didn’t check to see if I had my favourite Aperture Priority on which might have helped. If I use Shutter Priority I find I need to bump up my ISO to 400 or even 800 for a decent cat photo, whether it is a tree climber or not.
Marjorie is an award-winning cat photographer, tutor, and published author based in New Zealand. A Professional Member of the Cat Writers’ Association, she helps cat lovers strengthen the bond with their pets by improving their photography and editing skills through short how-to videos and posts. Marjorie believes anyone can take amazing photos and show off their cats to purrfection!
If you are a beginner cat photographer and looking for fun projects to improve your skills, you are in the right place. I have created a fun photography project collection that you can try. I began them a couple of years ago but they have been helpfully revised for you to enjoy in one place today.
These projects are designed to inspire you to explore new or different techniques while capturing your cat’s looks and peersonality. It doesn’t matter if you are using a professional DSLR or Mirrorless canera, or your favourite smartphone, I know that these projects will help you boost your photography confidence to create fantastic and artistic cat portraits.
You do not need to be a professional to succeed in taking great cat photographs with this photography project collection
The choice of project, and the time you take is up to you. Your cat will be the perfect model whichever project you start with. I am a cat photographer and you can be one too!
A fun challenge for beginners using their cameras. How to create your own cat portrait and do it well. There are lots of easy photo suggestions and tips bundled together to make a fun challenge for you and your cat.
Nothing says ‘I am a Cat and Proud’ more than a cool portrait you took yourself. I help you find a good place to start, tell you how I took my own cat photographs (it might help) and how to try out taking an abstract cat photo. This works really well if you have an uncooperative meowdel you are trying to capture in a successful portrait.
You will have some fun with your cats and your camera and you don’t need expensive new equipment to do it. Compacts and DSLRs are welcome in this camera projectm and I spotlight some great ideas for smartphones too. You may need to download your photos to a computer or tablet via a cable, card or wifi to work at a bigger scale, if you want to, but this is also a fun smartphone project with inspiring ideas.
Filters in smartphone apps get better and better all the time, so explore some fun apps after you check out this post.
Toulouse with a smartphone filter
Create Stunning Bokeh
What is bokeh? It is the lovely softness or blur that you can create, or add with a filter, to allow your cat’s face and figure to stand out from the background. It is one of the favourite photography effects every DSLR user enjoys. The effect is different from ‘soft focus’ which gives the whole photo a hazy blur. Wikipedia describes bokeh as “the quality of the blur produced in out-of-focus parts of an image”.
The effect can be replicated by a compact or smartphone camera so it is within the grasp of every camera user. Enjoy the photo tips!
One of the favourites in the photography project collection! There are lots of versatile apps that can help you create a collage so I went with the free version on Canva which will allow you to make something the size of a greetings card or a poster with just one template. This is aimed at the absolute beginner with few ideas about what to do and where to start, so give it a try.
My theme was Christmas for this post but the free backgrounds and decorations give you lots of scope to be creative. I included a short how-to video too.
I hope you find a project you will try in this week’s post. If you have sany questions email me at thecrew AT dashkitten DOT com or comment below the post.
Marjorie is an award-winning cat photographer, tutor, and published author based in New Zealand. A Professional Member of the Cat Writers’ Association, she helps cat lovers strengthen the bond with their pets by improving their photography and editing skills through short how-to videos and posts. Marjorie believes anyone can take amazing photos and show off their cats to purrfection!
