How to Take Great Cat Pictures

Tips on photographing your beautiful feline friend

May 10, 2007 Darlene Cheek

With a little practice, everyone can learn to take better pictures of their cat or kitten and have fun while doing it!

Taking an incredible, breathtaking picture of your cat isn’t nearly as easy at it seems! Cats have a mind of their own and are constantly on the move unless they happen to be asleep (which is a great time to take their picture, by the way). If only they would learn to sit like a puppy!

Great pictures aren’t impossible, though, as evidenced by all the cat photographers sharing stunning photos of their cats and kittens on Flickr. It may take a bit more patience and a little extra practice, but all that practice time with your darling posing kitty will be good quality time together!

• Take a few deep breaths and relax! If you get stressed trying to get the perfect picture of your kitty, then you’re no longer having fun and neither is your cat.
• Start out by taking pictures of your kitty just being a kitty. Natural, playful photos are just as enjoyable as posed shots, and you’ll appreciate that you’ve captured these moments as your cat ages.
• Take lots of pictures! Lots and lots! The more you play with your camera and your precious feline friend, the better your pictures will be, and your cat will get used to having that funny little box pointed at them.
• Use toys to focus your cat’s attention. This is a great way to start getting them to pose!
• Natural lighting is a good thing – take advantage of your cat’s love for windows.
• Work on close-up practice when your cat is asleep.
• Look at other people’s kitty pictures for inspiration.
• If you’d like to get a professional looking photo, plan your shot out ahead of time. Plan out your lighting, get your props, and groom your kitty.
• Try to tell a story with your picture.
• Crop your picture using thirds – make your cat either 1/3, 2/3, or the entire photo.

Most importantly, just have fun! This can be a great bonding experience and extra play time with your cat. You don’t have to have the most expensive camera to take good shots. Kodak has free Kodak software for editing, and Serif makes a simple and inexpensive program called Serif PhotoPlus (Serif also has several free downloads and trial versions). Irfanview is a freeware program called that is great for cropping and changing the size of your picture. You might also enjoy Google’s Picasa!

The copyright of the article How to Take Great Cat Pictures in Cats is owned by Darlene Cheek. Permission to republish How to Take Great Cat Pictures in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Harvey,black Persian kitten