Pet Photography: Kittens

This morning, when I probably could have been doing something more productive (such as finishing Christmas gifts), I chose to instead break in my new background, and to get some photos of our kittens. Well, the latest ones at least since my family appears to be a magnet for cats.

Setting up was probably the most difficult part of the entire thing, believe it or not. This is mainly due to how small the area is that I was working with--that being my room. But I am happy to say that since they're pretty small cats, it all worked out beautifully in the end.

The second biggest problem was Licorice being a bit spastic around the light going off, and she clawed my left hand up pretty bad when I went to pick her up. Normally she's a very lovable cat, but apparently not around my light kit. Dually noted, that's for sure.

I did these photos with one light with a soft box on it, set within five feet of where I had the kittens sitting, and off to the right. I think it's because I'm right handed, but I prefer my light to the right of me. If you look at the lighting patterns in most of my photographs, I'm sure you'll notice this. It's a habit I'm trying to break, but hey, so long as the photos look good, who cares.

The background was set up on a Savage Port-a-Stand, which, let me tell you what, works BEAUTIFULLY. Combining that stand with my light kit makes it so that I can transport my studio ANYWHERE. If you're looking to get a portable background stand, I really recommend that one. And even better is the background I bought is pre-hemmed, and so it slides on wonderfully. Now if I were just a bit taller...

Anyways...

I wasn't able to get as many photos as I wanted to be able to choose from, which was a little nerve-wracking since it lowered my chance of getting ones that were totally in focus; since as you know kittens have this wonderful nature of never staying in one place. But I am really happy to say that I must have improved since the last time I did pet photography (practice makes perfect, right?) since I was able to retouch five photos that I loved out of nineteen, and then chose my three favourite from that. Leaves me with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

So, without anymore chatter on my part, here are our kittens! To see them bigger, please visit my website.

First up, is Sootball, the fluffy one.


Then there is Licorice, the velvety one.


And finally, you have the sisters together. Awwww.