TerriWaters

Splat Cat ©

This is Gizmo. He might look uncomfortable but this is his favourite position.

This is Gizmo. He might look uncomfortable but this is his favourite position.
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Jul, 2016

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photograph of Gizmo was taken in the hall of our daughter's house when he was on the top of his scratching post. He loves it up there as he can see 3 rooms and up the stairs.

Time

In the late afternoon the light comes round to the front door and shines through the glass to Gizmo's favourite place.

Lighting

The light is natural in this shot, streaming through the glass in the front door. This caused highlights to be blown out on the white scratching post and cast a dark shadow behind Gizmo. I don't know about other cats but if I had used a diffuser and reflector to overcome this Gizmo would have been long gone before the stutter went down and this amusing photograph wouldn't exist. I decided to go with the shot and leave those in their bag and I'm so pleased I did.

Equipment

I used my Canon EOS 750D with the EFS 18-55mm kit lens on it. I always have the kit lens on when the camera is in my bag and swap lenses when out shooting. In this instance it was a quick shot with no time to consider the lens. Usually I use a tripod but as this was a spur of the moment image I didn't have time to set it up. I very rarely use flash, in fact I can't remember the last time I did. My camera is set so the flash never comes on. I love natural lighting.

Inspiration

Gizmo is an unending source of entertainment, especially at the stressful time he was captured here. We moved from Hampshire UK to Cornwall last year, leaving our grown up daughter behind with her partner and new baby on the way. Things were tough as our granddaughter was diagnosed with a very rare heart defect called Ebstein's anomaly when she was 6 hours old and had open heart surgery to temporarily patch the problem until she is strong enough to have the big fix operation. This meant that I ended up going back to Southampton to support my daughter and granddaughter when they were allowed home a month later. It was tough but after a few weeks things settled down a bit and as well as taking lots of baby photographs I took a fair few of Gizmo and Charlie, the family cats, while they got up to their antics. Gizmo has always been a character and as you can see from this picture, his relaxation techniques are a bit odd. He will lay across anything, boxes, arms of chairs, as long as his legs dangle he is happy. This is his favourite place, by the front door on top of the scratching post. He certainly gave us a few laughs in the first few worrying weeks and is still making me smile and count my blessings every time I look at this picture, and yes, our granddaughter is now 9 months old and doing well.

Editing

Some of this picture was over exposed as the sun was shining on the white of the scratching post so I used Photoshop to take the highlights down, also a small part of Gizmo's shadow was very dark behind him so I lightened that up a bit. Had I had time to plan the shot these things could have been avoided with diffusers and reflectors. Gizmo doesn't like plans, unfortunately he's a very suspicious cat.

In my camera bag

My bag contains everything I need to clean my lenses, various screw on lenses, spare batteries and cards, drink, tissues, sunscreen in summer and fingerless mittens with a pull on hat attached in winter (Very cute and essential when shooting in the cold). Oh, and a small umbrella for sun or rain a bin bag to lay on, a small torch and a whistle. Living in Cornwall you can never be too careful. I have a Manfotto tripod and a Manfotto Joby, a short bendy tripod, which I take when large tripods are not practical. My favourite lens is the Canon zoom EF 70-200mm. It's great for macro bokeh and distance. I take all of my flower images with it. I also love my Sigma 10-20mm for landscape photography. There are 3 other lenses I carry around with those, sizes in between these 2, but I rarely take them out. I think it's the thought of needing one and not having it that makes me lug 9.5kg of kit around, or the weight of a small toddler as my friend says. Other than that I travel light...

Feedback

All photographers need to continually be aware of what is going on around them to catch a shot like this. I think we see things differently to non camera wielding people anyway, always composing in our minds. The reason I keep the kit lens on the camera is that it's ready to go as soon as I get it out of my bag, and it fits in any bag. I don't always lug my full kit around, for obvious reasons, but I carry my camera everywhere so it has to be practical. It's good enough for most things that I could unexpectedly encounter. I always shoot in manual and it only takes a fraction of a second to roll the wheel to balance the lighting. The 9pt AF is always set too. It's also easy enough to change but for a quick opportunity capture I know the focus point will be central. Putting your camera away with it set the same way every time cuts down on checking the settings if you want to catch that spur of the moment gem.

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TerriWaters

TerriWaters

Splat Cat ©

This is Gizmo. He might look uncomfortable but this is his favourite position.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow TerriWaters

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