This blog is about cute cats! But really more about the lighting I used to get the shots.
I have taken a few lees formal portraits of Bitey Mouse and Kooshan, but after seeing the work of Rachael Hall I was inspired to do something a bit more studio like. I also wanted to show off Bitey Mouse’s cross eyedness!
But I don’t really have a studio…. Step one was the backgrounds, if you look at Rachel’s work she has amazing colours that compliment the animal. I found 3 different materials at spotlight, all with a floral pattern, to use as a background. The background was going to be out of focus, and the pattern would provide a bit of texture to the final image.
Initially i was going to pull out my lights and set up a small studio. I decided the light coming thought he lounge room window would be perfect, but as it was direct sun, I had to diffuse it to make it not so harsh and reduce the brightness of the whole scene. I did this by hanging some translucent material over the window.
So i pegged the background onto a clothes drier, set up the ironing board for the cats to sit on and teased them with a knitting needle to get some reactions (And a good chew if they got hold of it!)
The bright light was great for getting a fast shutter speed, but it make the cat’s pupils a bit small, taking out a bit of the cuteness (The larger the pupils, the cuter the animal – see Puss In Boots in Shrek).
