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Stella
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Stella



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upload_dateOct, 2020

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Tags

#cat #pet #animal #mammal #feline
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Behind The Lens

Location

I am an animal person, if I can get my hands on a fluffy animal, I will pat it all day if it will let me. So when my partner saw this cat cafe in Christchurch while we were there for a wedding, he know he had to take me to pat the cats. Like most western style cat cafe's we had to book in for this one but luckily they had a space available for us before we were scheduled to leave town. The cats at this particular cafe, again like most western style cat cafe's were all up for adoption but in the mean time they were providing hours of stress relief for pet lovers like me.

Time

We managed to get an appointment for the last session of the day which was between 4pm and 5pm. Fortunately being summer it was still sunny outside but being the last session of the day, many of the cats were a bit peopled out. They had towers and snuggle spots all around the room that they could rest in and there was a cordoned off section that they could retreat behind where their food and litter trays were kept. This particular kitten is named Stella and she was definitely not peopled out, despite being one of the most popular cats in the cafe. She was more than happy to take as much attention as she could get but while she was happy to play and potter and investigate people, she wasn't big on sitting still while being patted.

Lighting

As usual for establishments such as these, there was no flashes allowed. Fortunately there were 2 large windows at either end of the room as well as the usual fluro lighting of a cafe. The walls of the room were largely light coloured and for this particular shot, the table in the background was also white. I still had to take the photo at a fairly high ISO to get the shutter speed up enough to cope with a moving cat, but all in all I think it came out rather well.

Equipment

Considering my primary purpose for being at the cafe was to pat the cats, all I took with me was my usual 5D Mk IV with a 50mm lens. That enabled me to focus on the cats and not have to worry about watching a bag full of expensive camera equipment. I left the bag, the tripod and, the cleaning equipment and even my spare memory cards safely locked away in the car.

Inspiration

She was so cute!!!!!!!! What can I say, you put me in a room with a gorgeous, fluffy white cat with different coloured eyes and expected me not to take photos? Yeah right.

Editing

This particular shot is more of a candid shot than a piece of art so I really only did basic post processing on it. Of course with the High ISO issue I had to do some noise reduction but apart from that all i did was play with the exposure, contrast and highlights to make sure it was exposed the way I wanted it.

In my camera bag

I only have 2 camera bodies, one full frame and one crop factor. I use the crop factor camera with my big lens for birding and wildlife shots so for pretty much everything else I use the Canon 5D Mk IV. For this type of shot where I can get up close to my subject I will choose the 50mm prime 9 times out of 10. It is sharp and clear and easy to use, it is light weight and it doesn't intimidate the animals too much. These 2 things I always keep in my bag, and carry with me if I take nothing else. In the bag I left in the car I had my 24-105mm lens which I use as a general walk around lens if I don't know what type of environment I will be walking into, My tripod, a 17-40mm wide angle lens, mostly for night time landscapes and my 700D with attached 150-500mm wildlife lens.

Feedback

Many animals, especially ones from shelters, don't like camera's. Before you start shooting you will need to gauge how the animal might react. Stella was not at all concerned by the camera but for animals that run away every time you bring that big black box near them, you might need to try using a bigger lens and taking the shot from further away. If you move out of the animal's personal space, they are more likely to relax and be themselves, enabling you to get much more natural pictures of them.

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