mxcphoto
FollowMy cat doing what cats do.
My cat doing what cats do.
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12906
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Awards
Top Shot Award 21
Contest Finalist in My Favorite Pet Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Cats Or Dogs Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Feline Fancy Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Pampered Pets Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Sharpness Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Pets With Character Photo Contest
Featured
SanDisk Extreme Card
Contest Finalist in Cats Being Cats Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Animal Eyes Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Pet Friendly Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
Love it
Genius
Virtuoso
Top Ranks
Categories
pamramseycorey
June 24, 2015
Awww, reminds me of my kitty who recently died after 21.5 years. So beautiful!
reflectionsbyrenee
August 11, 2015
congrats on your newest finalist win, this is so stunning, you have captured the true essence of this beautiful cat
Mother_Nature
November 29, 2015
Congratulations, excellent Capture (well shot image)" Angel Eyes" was my finalist image --Love this cat so wonderful
joycealicesmith
November 29, 2015
Congratulations on your win!! What a fantastic capture! Love the eyes!
alexjevon
December 02, 2015
What a beautiful cat. Oddly I nearly entered a similar image with a calico! :D
SnowbunnyPhotography
December 07, 2015
Such an elegant kitty! Looks like my Bailey. Blue Russian? :-) Adorbs!!
mxcphoto
December 07, 2015
Thank you! This one is just your run of the mill bag-loving domestic shorthair.
mihrt
January 28, 2018
fabulous capture......amazing eyes on this lovely cat....great timing ! Congrats on all your awards - well deserved!
PhotographyByColleen
June 06, 2020
Would love to see this photograph in my new challenge viewbug.com/challenge/show-me-your-cats-photo-challenge-by-photographybycolleen
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in my apartment near Washington DC. I get a lot of natural window light coming in because I have a lot of windows, including part of a wall that's floor-to-ceiling windows leading out to a balcony.Time
This was taken in the afternoon, around 3pm.Lighting
My apartment has a fairly long balcony with floor-to-ceiling windows leading out to it, so I get a lot of great natural window lighting. My place can be messy sometimes because I will purposefully leave package boxes and shopping bags out for a couple days for my cat to play in. I do this because my cat is generally pretty camera shy. She seems to now know the noises associated with my camera, like the click from when I turn my camera on and the sound the lens cap makes. I can't count the number of times I've seen my cat doing something cute, and went to get the camera, but as soon as she hears it, she stops what she's doing or runs off. However, when she's in a bag or box, she tends to stay put more often. In this particular instance, the paper shopping bag happened to be open facing my balcony, so I couldn't have asked for better lighting. Most people who see this photo ask what type of lighting equipment I used, and are always surprised when I tell them it was 100% natural window light. All I did was lay down on the ground in front of her and take the photo.Equipment
For this particular picture, I used a Canon REBEL T3i with a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. The aperture was set to f/2. No lighting equipment was used. All I had was my camera, lens and that brown paper bag.Inspiration
I don't get too many opportunities to take photos of my cat. She's a bit camera shy and the camera tends to distract her from whatever she was doing that was photo worthy. She either stops what she's doing or runs off when she hears or sees the camera. Anytime I can get her to stay put, often with the assistance from shopping bags or UPS package boxes, I try to take advantage and take some photos of her. This was simply one of those times she cooperated with me.Editing
I shoot all my photos in RAW, so I always do some amount of post-processing. However, for this shot, with the lighting already being perfect, I didn't have to do very much. Basically modified the contrast a little and did some color correction.In my camera bag
I shot this was a Canon REBEL T3i. I've since upgraded and switched to a Nikon D750. Having switched manufacturers, I need to rebuild my lens collection, so right now my gear is pretty simple. I have my D750 body and my single Nikon lens, which is a Tamron 24-70 f/2.8. Right now, if there is a need for another lens, I will rent it. Outside of that, the rest is on an as needed basis (flashes, tripods, filters, etc).Feedback
I worked with cats who are much more camera-friendly than mine. I'd say if you have a bag or box, let your cat go to town on them and see what you can capture. I don't know how easy it would be to reproduce the lighting from this photo, as I think it contributed a lot to how the final photo turned out, but you can certain try something similar if you've got a lot of windows, or even with some lighting equipment. Having taken a decent amount of pet photos, one thing I've learned is that you often get the best photos when you just let the pets do their thing. I've never truly tried to "pose" a pet, but I have to imagine it's not only difficult, but I don't feel the result would be much better than capturing candid moments.