black-cat-peeking-around-tree
The cat was caught spying on me as I was photographing the puppies on his property. He doesn't mind the puppies but he was a little cautious about me and the c...
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The cat was caught spying on me as I was photographing the puppies on his property. He doesn't mind the puppies but he was a little cautious about me and the camera.
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Feb, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
My main objective during this particular photoshoot was to capture 8 week old German Shepherd puppies playing outside in the yard. The owner happens to also own a couple cats that are used to being around dogs. This black cat, however, may be comfortable around the puppies but was leary of me invading his property. As I was photographing the puppies at a relatively close distance, I noticed the cat peering from around the tree about 30 yards away. This was one of those rare chances to get an environmental photo that can not be staged or predicted. Fortunately, the cat remained perfectly still for me to swing my camera around and shoot a couple of frames before he disappeared from the scene.Time
The photoshoot occurred around 1 pm on a crisp November afternoon in eastern Washington state. The leaves on all the deciduous trees had fallen and the owner was usually very meticulous about keeping his yard raked and mowed. However, there was one area that still had a beautiful blanket of leaves still surrounding the tree. The cat could not have picked a better site for me to have him encased in the red, orange, and yellow canvas. I don't hesitate to shoot animals during the bright part of the day because it allows me to use a very fast shutter speed to freeze motion and still be able to keep the ISO low.Lighting
This was shot in all natural lighting. I don' t need to worry about skin tone with animals so midday lighting will work in most cases. In this particular shot, I do like the back sun light on the cat's head that serves as a rim light and separates him even more from the background of leaves.Equipment
My camera is a Nikon D600 and I use manual control with autofocus and vibration reduction. All my animal shoots are done with me handholding the camera. My go to lens is a 70-200mm f2.8 lens. The specific settings for this shot is ISO 100, focal length 180mm, f2.8, and 1/160s. Since I am in the prone position most of the time my elbows on the ground serve as my tripod.Inspiration
Having been a veterinarian for over 30 years and then going into pet photography, I take my knowledge and experience into the photosession. In active environmental shoots, the animals cannot be posed so anticipation of what the pets may do is critical for me to be in the right place at the right time. Being aware of all the animals within the area keeps me on my toes and magic moments like this photo can suddenly appear and fleetingly disappear. I try to capture the animal's character and personality in my photographs and inspiration is dictated by each individual animal.Editing
There is very little post-processing done on this particular photograph. With black fur, I often have to increase shadows in order to get more detail and reduce the appearance of seeing just a "black blob." Vibrance was slightly increased but saturation was not touched at all.In my camera bag
My bag has the D600, 70-200mm f2.8, 24-70mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4, flash, rogue flashbender with front diffuser, D90 backup camera, extra batteries.Feedback
If you are shooting animals in the environment, you must have good quality lenses. No kit lens because you will almost always need a tighter crop for your final photo and clarity of the eyes is key. A good lens will allow you to zoom in and see sharp margins of the eyelids and details of the eye's iris/pupil. Always focus on the eyes when photographing animals. Remember that animals are generally shorter than people and your camera perspective needs to be low. Therefore, you will be shooting in the prone position more often that not. Be aware of your surroundings at all times and you may capture magic when it suddenly appears.
