Tag Archives: seattle cat photography

moody cats

March 31, 2008 – 5:25 am

I have been going through my archives again this weekend and came across these images of a repeat client’s kitties: Sugar Ray, Ali and Floyd. (yes, they are all named after boxers)










We are overdue for the boys’ annual photo shoot, and have been playing email tag since December, so I am posting these images here to put out some good ‘call me’ energy to their mom. I’m ready Ronnie! Call me! :-)

I haven’t photographed these gorgeous guys since I got my Canon. They have a really incredible house, with steel walls and lots of black and white. The most unusual architecture I have ever seen in a house. To say I can’t wait to get back in there with my Canon would be an understatement. We can *finally* capture those action shots in the bedroom their mom has so long desired. Whoopee!

So Ronnie if you are reading this (I know she’s not, she is verrry busy- busier than me even!), call me and let’s get you scheduled! I can’t wait to see the boys.

Also, you probably noted that these images look pretty different from what I normally do.

That’s because I finally decided to see what all of the fuss was about Photoshop action-wise. In late December I paid for some pro actions, and piddled around with them the last few months. It wasn’t until this weekend that I finally got around to really trying them.

The actions I bought are from Michelle Black and Nichole Van.

I bought ‘Perfect Enhance’ from Michelle Black and ‘Complete Workflow’ from Nichole Van.

I tried out every action from both gals’ sets on just about every different type of photo I could think of (all dogs and cats of course, cause well, that’s pretty much all I have).

I played around with layer opacities, and deleted layers, and layered new layers on top of old layers. I did all kinds of stuff as I normally do when trying something new. I combined the actions with my already pretty good pre-existing knowledge of Photoshop.

My conclusion?

Although the actions themselves are very cool, and very impressive, and clearly took a vast knowledge of photoshop to create, they don’t really work for my purposes or give me the look that I am going for, which is in a word: realistic (the action fans would probably say ‘boring’).

I’m still a big fan of getting the shot right in-camera, and although it’s not always easy with pet photography, the challenge is part of the fun.

I do, however, like the ‘evenout’ action in Michelle Black’s set, and overall like hers the most, but all I really want to do with my images is tweak the contrast a little, and lighten them when they are too dark.

Having said that, I discovered that these black cats look truly amazing with Michelle Black’s ‘dramatic’ action. It produces really cool, slightly desaturated moody images. And I also think some of the actions might be fun to play with for my Decopaw art process. Oooh, I could waste a lot of time there, oh no. Maybe next year.

These shots are all from my prosumer Fuji camera, and I just applied the action to the unedited files, then flattened layers and saved as-is. No messing around with layer opacities or anything fancy. Just click play, flatten, resize, save.

I totally dig the way Sugar Ray, Ali and Floyd look with the ‘dramatic’ action (I tried them on other cats and wasn’t nearly as pleased; I think it’s because these boys are black), so I’ll keep them for my own personal file.

Whether or not the boys’ mom Ronnie likes them remains to be seen. Maybe if she sees this post she can tell me. Ronnie, where art thou?! :-)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in digital editing, for photographers, Private client shoots, seattle cat photography | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Seamus kitty photos

November 15, 2007 – 8:44 pm

This pretty guy is Seamus, and he lives in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle. We did his shoot last week on a particularly dark and gloomy day but since we did the shoot in Seamus’ home, we couldn’t have cared less what it did outside. :-)

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seamus was the first cat who decided the salmon treat I gave him was actually a toy.

Believe it or not he loves this. :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite shot of him watching the pigeons on the roof nextdoor. His mom is holding him on her shoulder, something she frequently does for 5-1o minutes at a stretch so he can watch the birds. Now that’s dedication!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing with string. You can just barely see it as a thin green line in the foreground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daydreaming, ahhh…

 

By doggirlseattle | Posted in Private client shoots, seattle cat photography | Also tagged , | Comments (0)

Favorite cat photos

July 30, 2007 – 8:02 am

This post has been sitting in my drafts folder, just waiting for the right time to ‘go live’ . Since I have been thinking about Jasmine all week (and it looks like we are getting close to having her ready for a new home- vet visit tomorrow!), I thought this would be an appropriate time to prove my love for the feline variety of furbaby.

Most people think that I only photograph dogs. This makes sense as most of the animals on my websites are dogs. However, not only do I shoot cats as well, but I have multiple repeat clients who own multiple kitties.

Although they only make up about 15% of my total shoots, I love photographing cats! It’s a totally different ballgame from shooting dogs.

In what way?

Lots of ways.

Cats are much more challenging to shoot than dogs for a variety of different reasons.

Dogs are EASY. Cats- not so much.

A) most aren’t super thrilled to have a camera shoved in their face, or anywhere near them for that matter. Especially if you are a stranger. They are pros at turning away with their back/shoulder facing the photographer.

B) they are constantly in motion. Not the start-stop kind of motion dogs do, but more of a constant, fluid, unpredictable motion. Dogs start, then stop. And pause. Then move again, then stop. Cats seem to only be stationary when a) looking out the window while stuck between a potted plant and the back of a chair, making photo-taking difficult at best, b) while half-lidded and nearing naptime and c) sleeping.

C) unlike dogs, they will do whatever they damn well please, thank you very much. It isn’t you, the photographer who gets to control how the shoot goes, it is the CAT.

D) many cats require ultimate patience to get really great shots. Great cat shots really do need to happen organically.

E) the same noises that will get the attention and perked ears of a dog will frequently make a cats ears fold back- a very undesirable look for a kitty in a photograph. It takes timing and patience to get the elusive ears up and forward, yet relaxed eyes shots.

 

However, even given these challenges (or because of them) I love shooting cats!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I tend to be a fairly high-energy person and move quickly and am always thinking and nearly always ‘doing’.

When doing a kitty shoot I am forced to slow down. My movements, my speech, my thoughts, even my blood pressure slow down. It’s like meditation. The Zen of pet photography.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love that they control the pace of the shoot, and what happens next. Instead of feeling frustrated by this I feel liberated. I feel like the ‘happy accident’ shots are just waiting around the corner, which is often true when shooting kitties.

I am merely a bystander, waiting with my camera in hand to capture whatever special moment happens next. It may happen in 5 minutes, it may happen in an hour. It’s no matter. Like I said, I have ultimate patience.

I am always excited when I show up to a client’s house to shoot their dogs and discover that they have 1 or 2 cats as well that I didn’t know about. And you can bet I’ll be taking pictures of those kitties before leaving.

The only thing I wish is that more cat owners contacted me! I have had this conversation numerous times with friends who have cats, and the consensus seems to be that most people think their kitties don’t make for as interesting photographs because they are less expressive than dogs. I tend to agree with that to a certain degree, although I like to think that the kitties in these photos are pretty darn expressive. Love the cats! :-)

By doggirlseattle | Posted in Behind-the-Scenes, miscellaneous randomness | Also tagged | Comments (0)
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