How to Take Great Cat Photos

Cats are known for their laziness. However, this very treat poses a great challenge for a photographer--how can you take an interesting shot of such a lazy subject? And how can you capture the cat's cuteness without making the picture look like a random snapshot? In short, how can you create something special? Let's find out.

1. First rule: Do not place the cat in the center of the image. Or positive: Place the main object off-center. Since cats are usually lazy and still objects, placing it in the center like in the example image on the left makes the picture look static and boring. (Other flaws in this image: the shadows in the cat's face are distracting. Moreover, the cat's eyes are almost closed and the background doesn't look artsy either.)
However, you can place the cat in the center if you want to accentuate symmetry.

Just to see the difference, here's a shot where the cat's head is placed off-center:





2. Make it special by capturing something special. Although it may look cute, a sleeping cat is nothing special. However, with the right surroundings, props and lighting you can make it even look mystical:





Additionally, it pays off to watch out for reflections:





3. Go down to the cat's eye level. Most cat pictures are taken from the perspective of the human eye, which looks boring. It's better to take the picture from the cat's eye level--or from the prey's perspective, as you can see here (although it's still not perfect because the cat is slightly blurry while the background is sharp):




4. Choose the right depth of field (i.e. the area that's sharp). The picture above has a wide depth of field, which means that everything from the cat to the background is sharp--but this also means that the picture includes a lot of distracting surroundings. In contrast to that, take a look at these examples of a narrow depth of field:







All these images focus solely on the cat by blurring the background and foreground, thus leaving out unnecessary distractions while including just the right amount of surroundings. You can narrow the depth of field by using a low f-stop number (i.e. open up the aperture) and/or a large zoom factor.


5. Focus on details. Similar to portraits of human beings, taking a detailed shot can spice things up, as you can see here:





6. Try black and white. Black and white colors make a photo of a kitten appear more intimate and emotive:




7. Catch the cat in action. Even the laziest cat will jump once in a while (if not, a popping balloon will help). If it does, be ready to catch the action.



Read more about action photography here (under "The Right Timing").


8. Take the photo with a special camera. This one is certainly special (and this last tip not to be taken too seriously):