That cute little ear
3 kittens in a basket. One has an ear that is very expressive
3 kittens in a basket. One has an ear that is very expressive
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May, 2018Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken at my house in Kirklin, IN during a kitten photo shoot.Time
Afternoon, and inside.Lighting
I had a little light coming in through the window and an overhead light on in the room. To make sure there faces were well lit, I used a Sony flash attached to my camera. This flash has a built in white bounce card which I used with the Flash set at a 75 degree angle.Equipment
Sony Alpha a900 camera, Benro tripod and ball head, Sigma 50mm F2.8 macro lens, Sony HVL-F58AM flash, and a Longeburger basket.Inspiration
We rescued a cat that was pregnant and had kittens a week after her rescue. During that week we had lined up new homes for all of the kittens with a couple more in the wings, just in case someone changed there mind. We had not had kittens in our home for over 30 years. They were such a joy to raise. We decided we needed to have some really special pictures of them before they went to the forever homes so we had a photo shoot on the dining room table. My husband was at the side keeping them all in the basket and at the last second he'd start waving one of their toys in front of them to get them to all look in about the same direction. I kept the camera on continuous focus and kept shooting until one would jump out of the basket and then we'd start over. The smallest kitten of the litter had very expressive ears that would just quiver and looked like dumbo getting ready to take off flying when she was excited or scared. You could always tell when she was going to pounce on a toy because her ears would do this just before she lept. Then she would fold the one ear down. This was the only shot in the whole photo shoot that captured that one ear folded down. It is one of my favorite.Editing
On this one everything looked pretty good. I fine tuned the brightness and color in lightroom and cropped the picture some. This copy that I submitted has been downsized and changed to jpg as well. I always shoot in Raw.In my camera bag
For something like this picture, I keep a 50mm lens and a short telephoto on hand along with my sony alpha a900 camera and a good sony flash.Feedback
This whole photo shoot probably only took about 10 minutes because I knew the kittens so well. I would suggest that every photographer taking pictures of pets spend a little time getting to know the pet and talking to the owner about their best qualities or funny things that they like to do so you know about little things like the ear quiver to watch for when shooting. You want to get the true nature of the pet to come through the picture. Always have at least 1 or 2 people to help keep puppies and kittens where you want them in the scene. It also helps if you have the owner get a couple of their most favorite toys and a few treats to help in the shoot. This one their eyes were watching something a little high, but it still turned out cute. Snapping your fingers also helps to get their attention. Keep shooting a few more pictures even after you think it's not working. You never know when they'll move just so and you get exactly what you want.
