White Nose
Found quite the photogenic cat while going out in the city.
Found quite the photogenic cat while going out in the city.
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May, 2018Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo outside on my way to the local park. It was a bit of an unexpected shoot as I didn't initially plan a meet-up with this stray cat, and a photogenic one at that. I noticed it near a bench and wanted to take a photo of it, although I expected it to be afraid and run away like the usual animals I (try to) photograph, however it seemed to stay around and I managed to take quite a few photos, but this one stood out to me.Time
I think it was mid-day, lots of light to spare which is a great plus when it comes to photography for me as I don't have to deal with ISO noise or long shutter speeds. You wouldn't think it's taken at noon, with how dark it is, would you?Lighting
Well, I really wanted to give it a soft feel, hence why I didn't have any particularly bright spots in the photo, I did however make sure the eyes had some shine in them so they didn't look too flat.Equipment
For this photo I used a Nikon D3300 with a Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED lens I have recently purchased. No flash or tripod necessary when it's 4PM.Inspiration
Not so long ago I looked at a documentary of Platon's photography. I really liked the rawness of the photos he shoots, how he captures simple yet striking photos and I wanted to take one in that style, although with a slight catch - an animal subject.Editing
Oh yes, most photographers say post-processing is half the job, for me it's more like 70%, as I still have a lot to learn when it comes to in-camera settings, although this photo in particular only needed some cropping, straightening, a bit of detail and some gradients at the bottom to blacken the body of the cat, to isolate the head for greater depth. More minor edits would be the lowering of the highlights, although this is more of a personal preference, as I try to develop my own editing style which has a large contrast but with the blacks limited to dark greys and whites to light greys.In my camera bag
First and foremost, the camera body. I'd love to be able to take photos with just the lenses but I do seem to need a camera body for that unfortunately. That would be the Nikon d3300 with the 18-55 kit lens which I used to shoot street photography with; I did replace this with the Nikon 35mm f/1.8 recently, although I still carry the kit lens around in case I ever need it (it also uses an empty slot in my bag so it doesn't bother as much). I also have the 70-300mm lens I shot this photo with, which I use for close-ups, telephoto shots and some landscape photos. As for accessories I always have a set of extension tubes in my bag, a vertical grip and a nice generic ball-headed tripod in case I need the stability.Feedback
Always keep your camera in your hand and don't think that just because there's a lot of light outside you can only capture bright photos, use the light as a buffer for your shutter speed so you don't lose out the hand-holding experience. Oh and check out Abstract: Art of Design, the photography episode with Platon, it's amazing for portrait photography!
