Photographing kittens and other pet portraits - part one

A few months ago, I signed up at African Tails as a foster mom for puppies and kittens. It was not long before I received an email asking if we would take two kittens. One of them had a deformed leg. I have a special interest in pet portrait photography and I could not wait to photograph them.

They had been abandoned and were unnamed so we named them Bella and Shadow. We were particularly concerned about Bella, the little one with the under-developed leg. It turns out she was the feisty one.

The first photographs I took of them were in very low light conditions in the guest bedroom. I rarely use flash when photographing animals especially babies. It is often enough to bump up the ISO, even up to 1600 with acceptable noise.

A 50 mm prime, one of my favourite lenses and a faster lens than the rest in my kit, is great for low-light conditions. The photographer just has to move around a bit more than if using a zoom lens. This can be challenging with kittens who are on the move, but in my opinion the 50 mm is still a great lens and often results in sharper images.

The kittens were safely ensconced in the guest bedroom on arrival. This was to keep them safe as we have two grown cats and two dogs and kittens are hard to keep track of. They were so small that we started them off on baby cat milk and soft kitten food and slowly introduced them to the rest of the family. Shadow was cool, but Bella (the kitten with the short leg) was quick to hiss and spit if she felt threatened.

Animals, like people, have expressions. I think it is important to capture the emotions that these expressions convey even if the image is not totally sharp. The photographs I have of the kittens outside on the patio tell a great story. The dogs are being so careful not to appear threatening, but they are fascinated by the baby cats. Bella spits to warn them off, but Shadow is more confident and strides off bravely.

The kittens have huge, really beautiful eyes and they are in no way alike even though they are sisters. It is really important to keep the eyes tack sharp when taking a photograph. This was one of the first great tips that I learned from a professional photographer when I began studying photography and going to classes.

Another great tip for taking photographs of kittens, or any other pets, is to try and take the photograph on their level. This often involves kneeling or lying on the ground and contorting yourself into weird positions, but it is worth it if you are going to get an awesome shot.

Now that I have begun blogging, I realise there is more to say about pet photography and more images and more challenges to discuss. So this is part one.

And we officially adopted the kittens. A fantastic foster fail. They are home.