Freddie’s First Day Out

There are some things I just can’t let happen without photographing. One of them seems to be the first time any of our cats leaves the house. I wasn’t really a photographer back when Cookie had her first trips, but I took a lot of shots when Rambow and Zelda first explored the outside world, so of course I was ready, camera in hand, when the newest edition to our family Freddie took his first steps outside.

1/2500sec, f/4, ISO 320, 105mm

Well, ‘steps’ might be the wrong word in this case. Because we’d spent several days with the window open before we let him go out, he was a little less timid when we finally let him out free so it wasn’t long before he was balling about like the crazy kitten he is.

I did have a bit of a problem, however. Freddie’s trip out came only a couple of days after I’d accidentally made a very half-arsed attempt at filleting my own thumb with a small serrated knife, so my hand looked like this:

1/2000sec, f/4, ISO 250, 32mm

I’m left-handed, so although I successfully punctured my right hand, ultimately photography is a multi-handed pastime so there was no getting away without using it. So I just plonked myself on the grass and let the kittens run around me.

1/200sec, f/4, ISO 320, 47mm

Well, I say kittens. Really Freddie is a kitten, Rambow and Zelda are now technically cats. But then, Cookie is seven years old now and she’ll always be a kitten in our hearts.

I’ve not really shown much of Rambow and Zelda since they were little, but they were running around with Freddie and got themselves photographed quite a bit too. They’re a bit bigger than they used to be.

1/320sec, f/4, ISO 320, 105mm

1/250sec, f/4, ISO 100, 105mm

I’m getting a bit practised at photographing my cats at this point, and am getting better at capturing them in photogenic poses. Most of the time.

1/200sec, f/4, ISO 320, 93mm

Unfortunately, Rambow and Zelda’s dark fur on their faces means that when they’re in strong sunlight it looks like they’re frowning.

1/2000sec, f/4, ISO 320, 65mm

And it’s made even worse when they are actually frowning a bit. This does not look like a cat you want to get on the wrong side of.

1/2000sec, f/4, ISO 320, 105mm

As we’re getting towards summer, at times the light was a bit harsh, but it was still often soft enough that when I got Freddie backlit his fur was lit up lovely:

1/320sec, f/4, ISO 320, 105mm

Whenever the opposite happened, and Freddie was front lit by our local star, I had to do a bit of playing about with contrasts and colour balance to bring out the details.

1/2500sec, f/4, ISO 320, 95mm

What’s stunning to me is the different in auto exposure time between shooting against the sun and with my back to the sun. I was shooting in Aperture Priority as I usually do, and shooting with the sun behind Freddie the camera picked 1/320th; in the full light 1/2500th. I knew there’d be a difference, but not that much of one. For the most part I shot at 320 ISO to ensure then Freddie stepped into the darker patches I could still get him with a short enough shutter speed. Which is fortunate, because he seemed keen to perform some interesting poses. Like invisible karate.

1/1600sec, f/4, ISO 320, 73mm

Of course, for the other cats this is all old hat by now.

1/2000sec, f/4, ISO 320, 75mm

1/1000sec, f/4, ISO 320, 105mm

That is, except for Cookie, who was still very weary of Freddie at the time and didn’t want to come out and play. She’s since improved a bit, but will still whack him if he gets too close when she’s not in the mood. Since she’s alpha kitty, however, this is her prerogative.

1/2000sec, f/4, ISO 320, 105mm

Maybe because I’m getting used to photographing things running about (like cats and, er, students), I managed to get several great action shots of Freddie in full loon mode.

1/640sec, f/4, ISO 250, 105mm

1/2000sec, f/4, ISO 320, 67mm

That last one is definitely going to have to go on the wall at some point.

For the most part, however, I managed to get some pretty decent shots of three quarters of my cats.

1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 320, 95mm

1/250sec, f/4.5, ISO 320, 93mm

1/250sec, f/4.5, ISO 320, 105mm

1/2500sec, f/4, ISO 320, 73mm

1/640sec, f/4, ISO 320, 105mm

1/1000sec, f/4, ISO 320, 105mm

1/1600sec, f/4, ISO 320, 84mm

1/1600sec, f/4, ISO 320, 84mm

Given Freddie’s furriness I wanted to get some decent shots of him backlit, since that is how most furry kitties seem to be photographed these days. Fortunately Freddie was happy to oblige.

1/1250sec, f/4, ISO 320, 105mm

Well, not always happy about it.

1/640sec, f/4, ISO 320, 73mm

That’s Freddie for you, however. He is a very vocal kitten so you can often photograph him with his mouth open. Sometimes it looks like a cheesy grin, but others time it looks like it does above, like he’s possessed by an evil spirit.

Fortunately, he soon started walking towards me, holding my gaze. I got down low in the grass to try to frame some nice foreground and shot away.

1/500sec, f/4, ISO 250, 105mm (cropped)

1/640sec, f/4, ISO 250, 105mm

The latter is already the lock screen on my phone. I love the bokeh of the background and his face is nicely lit without being blown out. His whiskers are still a tiny bit lopsided but not as much as they were when he was younger.

Soon he plonked his butt down in the grass making for another classic sort of shot.

1/640sec, f/4, ISO 250, 105mm

Not that he can sit still for long.

1/800sec, f/4, ISO 250, 105mm

A few days later, the kittens were out again. This time I decided to use my macro lens, mainly because I was trying to photograph a ladybird I saw on a leaf who managed to sneak off whilst I was fetching camera and swapping lenses. It allowed me to shoot at a bigger aperture and a prime lens which I’ve not done in a little while. I even managed to get a shot of Cookie. Not looking happy, of course, that would be a bit much to ask.

1/4000sec, f/2.8, ISO 250, 100mm

For reasons I still haven’t figured out, there is a sharpness to my macro lens that I don’t really see in any of my other lenses.

1/200sec, f/2.8, ISO 125, 100mm

1/250sec, f/2.8, ISO 250, 100mm

Meanwhile, Zelda had snuck off into the grounds of the adjacent warehouse, and when I started photographing her she played up to the camera in a brazen attempt to court my favour.

1/320sec, f/2.8, ISO 125, 100mm

1/400sec, f/2.8, ISO 125, 100mm

1/200sec, f/2.8, ISO 125, 100mm

Whilst Freddie snuck off to play in the car park…

1/1250sec, f/2.8, ISO 250, 100mm

… Zelda decided to climb a tree for another photo opportunity.

1/200sec, f/16, ISO 1250, 60mm

1/1250sec, f/4, ISO 500, 55mm

1/1000sec, f/4, ISO 500, 105mm

She also gave me a decent pose as she climbed down.

1/640sec, f/4, ISO 125, 24mm

I’m beginning to suspect I get a bit carried away when I photograph my cats. But then, when they’re being so cooperative and the light is so right, who wouldn’t?

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