alexcourt_photography
FollowMy cat Ollie was just chilling out on the sofa on a cold winters evening so i was taking shots of him and playing around with my camera, I dont know how he did ...
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My cat Ollie was just chilling out on the sofa on a cold winters evening so i was taking shots of him and playing around with my camera, I dont know how he did it but he managed to stay 99% still during this 1 second exposure! I love the deep black of his pupils with the room reflected in them and the crispness of the hair around his nose and eyes.
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alexcourt_photography
March 16, 2014
Thanks Godron :) this is one of my favourite shots! It does look good in colour but I preferred B&W :)
reni
March 24, 2014
Another great shot :) love the composition and b&w gives a very nice mood...love it....and such a cute kitty :)
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken in my living room of my flat on a very cold and wet British winters day.Time
It was about 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon.Lighting
I didn't use any flashes or even the pop up flash, just the light coming from the normal standard house light, a lamp in the corner and the TV, as you can spot all three lights in his eyes.Equipment
I used my first DSLR which was the Nikon D3200 with the Nikon AF-S 50mm 1.8G. My parents got me a cheap Vivitar tripod but it was quite sturdy enough set quite low as he was sitting on the sofa, also I used the Nikon ML-L3 shutter release to reduce any camera shake.Inspiration
My inspiration for this picture was my cat Ollie himself. Peope say their cat is beautiful, but I think he is beautiful! He has a sort of Egyptian shaped face, with lovely big eyes and great markings in his fur. I love him to bits so I tried to get a shot of him that shows how beautiful he is. Being a rescue cat he's quite timid and very nervous, but has the biggest heart and this picture I think reflects this. Also, it was only after this shot was taken that I realised that the shutter speed was 1 second! He stayed very still for this shot, but I think because it's not all sharp and the whiskers are a bit blurry it adds more to the shot but his eyes are quite sharp so they draw you into the shot.Editing
I use Adobe Lightroom 5 for post processing. I didn't do a lot with this picture to be honest; I converted it to black and white and slightly increased the clarity, tweaked a few other things but nothing too major.In my camera bag
Well since this picture was taken I have upgraded my camera, now I have the Nikon D7100 and still have have the Nikon AS-S 50mm 1.8G. These are the two main things in my bag, along with my iPad for file transfers and a cleaning kit.Feedback
I took quite a few pictures to get the shot that I want, so take your time if your subject is sitting and comfortable, take a lot of shots to increase your chances of getting the shots that shows the subject the way that you want. If you take your time and put your care into your shots then that will show in your shots. And don't go mad with post-processing, many shots I've seen I believe to be over done with processing so keep it simple if it needs it.