PROJECT 2 Top cat pet photography

Dan Mold teaches you how to photograph your kitten (or any pet) indoors for images that are the cat’s pyjamas

Even those who claim not to be cat lovers can’t resist the heart melting cuteness of a kitten. But as irresistible as these playful bundles of fur are, they grow up extremely fast. It makes sense then to preserve this fleeting period of your feline’s life by capturing them with your Canon EOS camera.

However, if your cat isn’t old enough to venture outdoors, or is an indoor cat, it can be challenging to photograph them. It’s even been reported that black cats are being shunned by the social media obsessed, simply because they are harder to photograph. As our images of pretty kitty Maggie proves, photographing a black cat indoors doesn’t need to be that difficult. And if you’re a dog lover, the techniques in this project are entirely transferable, so your pet pooch needn’t feel left out.

It’s thought that flash can prove harmful when photographing particularly young animals, and we didn’t want to scare our timid subject either, so we stuck to natural window light and continuous lighting from some LED panels. The latter can help brighten particularly darker fur and faces, but if you don’t own any lights you can still take beautiful images using only window light, you’ll just need to open your aperture a little wider, or shoot at a higher ISO. Canon EOS cameras are getting ever better at producing great quality pictures at high ISO values, like ISO6400 and ISO12,800. Another top tip is positioning your pet so they have a clean background.

Young animals may well need enticing using treats or calling for their attention, but remember that their well-being comes first. Make sure they’re comfortable, and you’ll reap better results.

Shoot fast bursts of images to give yourself a better chance of capturing the perfect moment and patiently wait for your subject to be bathed in the perfect light and strike the right pose.

Follow our steps below and watch the accompanying video to see how you can take some brilliant pet portraits. Let’s photograph some felines!