cats

 Header Challenge:cats

July 31, 2013

Today's challenge is cats.  It was Fishing Guy's pick. Check out my  pals for their interpretations on this theme: Fishing  Guy, Katney, Imac and Lew.

Nala is a boy cat.  His first owner thought he was a she and called it "Sweety."  That's too syrupy-sweet for me, so we renamed it "Nala," the queen from Disney's Lion King.  Then, at our first vet visit, the doctor said, "Um, you know this is a male cat, right?"  We decided it would confuse him if we changed his name again. Or maybe we were just too lazy, but we left the name as it is.  He is deaf and quite old now.  Can I tell you why I like this photo of him?  If you have been trying to get a good photo of a cat, especially a dark cat, you know that it's tricky to get the details of the contours in its coat without getting the reflective eyes.  I bounced the flash off the ceiling, and used a white reflector just a few inches away from him, and that gave him nice, even light all around without making his eyes light up.  He was gracious to tolerate the one shot and then decided he was going to be shy.

Our younger cat was super-shy when we got her.  My daughter decided to call her "Maybe."  Yes, like the song.  This was a setup where I put a storm window on top of an upside-down card table and took her picture from below.  She did not like that, but she got over it and we're friends again.  Her previous owner gave her up because the kitten was too shy, hiding all the time.  But if you ask me, discretion and modesty look good on a cat.  And this being a "tortoiseshell" cat, it figures that she likes to hide, you know?

Did you hear about the cat that swallowed a ball of wool?  She had mittens. 

The header photo is our tortie Maybe hiding at my seat under the dinner table.  No flash.  I used the natural light from a window, plus a sheet of paper to spill a little extra light into the shadows.

look up

Look Up

April 10, 2013

Katney chose "Look Up" for this week's Headbanger's theme.  Check out my  pals for their interpretations on this theme: Fishing  Guy, Katney, Imac and Lew.

My header is looking up at our cat through a pane of glass.  Oh, the pane we go through to try to get a good shot.  ;-)

look up to see Elwood Blues "on a mission from God" atop the theater's main entrance

my grandchildren are always looking up, as they are so much nearer to the ground than us

our dog "Bear" looks up for a treat, as a statue and I scan the skies in a burger joint

this is Kacie, enjoying a photo shoot, and playfully being dramatic for her senior pics

look down

Header Challenge:look down

May 20, 2013

Normally, we keep our chin up and take on the world at eye level, which is fine for most things. But there are so many interesting observations we would miss if we did that with our cameras. Therefore, I chose "look down" for this week's Headbanger's theme. Check out my  pals for their interpretations on this theme: Fishing  Guy, Katney, Imac and Lew.

Lead mining in Galena, Illinois

Lead mining in Galena.  If you're up on your geology, that will sound redundant.  The man below isn't real; it's a mannequin, and this was taken through a thick pane of protective glass.  We couldn't venture down into the mine, but the closest access was an observatory the size of a closet.  There was a museum on the main floor with plenty of artifacts and information, though.

baby 'possum

This little fella was found in my backyard last year, and the following morning, I found him again as I was doing yard work.  We took him to a local refuge, because if he stayed around here without his momma, he'd only be coyote bait.

wee little toad

Most wild animals are shy and skittish, and that makes it difficult to get a shot off.  That was not the case with this guy.  I used a tripod and manual focus.  When I tried moving him around to a different pose, he decided he was finished with me and hopped back into the leaves.

oak leaves in shimmering lake

This was taken flat on my belly, off a pier in Wisconsin.  The sparkles in the water drew my attention, and since it was in constant motion, I wondered if I could snap a relatively sharp image, and it worked.

Speaking of being flat on my belly, that's what I did to capture the header photo, too.  I walked past a room where someone had four cats.  There was nobody inside at the time to entertain them, and this one begged for my company, but I did not open the door for fear that I would end up chasing four cats through the whole building!  So instead, I talked to this cat from the gap under the door.

pet project

In case you haven't met them before, allow me to present my regular pets; these are not foster pets.  Here, our dog is basking in a golden evening glow.  He likes to sit with us, or ON us.  Notice that he isn't wearing a collar.  We found that it rubbed fur off his neck, so it is only worn when he goes outside.  Our cat appears as an enigmatic shadow in most natural light pictures, but here, you can see some of his form and he was kind enough to let me snap a pic with his eyes open.

There is a corkboard in the lobby at my veterinarian's office.  It is filled with photographs of the pets who appreciate their doctor.  No, it is more than filled, because there are a bunch of new columns that have been added next to the board, with a dozen more pics were taped to the wall.  Then as we look around the other walls, we have the large professional pet shots in fancy frames.  There is a discrepancy between the kind of portraits we see in the personal shots and the higher caliber professional shots, and I would like to see if we can bridge the great gulf between them.  Here is my idea:

What if... I consolidated and simplified the most useful pet portrait tips and created a flyer for these customers to take better pictures?  I mentioned it to the folks at the clinic, and they have not expressed any opposition to it or reservations.  Especially, since it would be a free pamphlet that, once created, would be totally under their control and discretion.

Maybe I could create a checklist, and hand it to a few pet lovers as a test.  They could indicate with a checkmark, which pieces of advice they found most helpful.

What do you think?  Nobel Prize potential or a total waste of time?