Daily Photo: Subtleties
Another sunny meditation, this time Bean and Bella. I’m not sure who was there first, but I think Bella was bathing in the sun, a favorite activity, and Bean joined her in the sun. Both quietly enjoyed the moment for about ten minutes, the entire time the sun shone onto the cabinet. It’s another interesting composition, full of curves and shapes and very subtly two cats. And again, I couldn’t decide if I liked the rich saturated colors or the abstract highlights and shapes, so we have both.
. . . . . . .
Other Photos Posted On or Around This Date…
Daily Photo: A Silhouette, 2014
Sunshine calmly enjoys his namesake.
Really only Mr. Sunshine has the presence to sit calmly in a pose without the need to interact with me, so in challenging light like this I can capture him clearly. I was admiring the gentle colors in the original, the creamy lace, the faded wood, the slight green cast from the outdoors on the wall, the antique gold frame on the mirror. But it’s also a scene I like in black and white with all the contrasts and patterns, and it’s been a while since I’ve featured a black and white photo.
. . . . . . .
What other photos did I share on this date?
. . . . . . .
Mimi, Overexposed, 2013
I give her a great shot, a perfect pose, me with daisies all around me, and I even look straight at her. And she screws it up.
No, I’m not posing any longer even though you have the right settings now. You had your chance.
She really did sit right down in front of those daisies and look right at me, waiting. She does this now and then—Mimi is very self-aware, and I would say she loves to be involved in what I do, but the truth is she believes she often has better ideas. And sometimes she’s right, like this pose, but I had left my camera on manual settings for indoors so it’s overexposed. Although, once I did a few touch-ups on it, I think it looks pretty cool. I think Mimi looks pretty anywhere, though.
. . . . . . .
Simply Mimi, 2011
Mimi naps on the bedspread in the afternoon, sunlight reflecting from the white fabric onto her face, gently defining her delicate details.
This is one of the photos I took Saturday with the new little point and shoot camera I decided to purchase. I took photos of all the cats and of flowers and lots of other things, and out of it all I had intended to create a slideshow. But I’m tearing my studio apart, cleaning, painting and moving in new storage furniture so that I can actually work in there; the slideshow will have to wait. Still, Mimi stole the day and this is only one lovely photo of her.
I can’t carry the “big one”, the DSLR, around the house all the time, it’s just too physically and sometimes mechanically cumbersome, and it’s too big an investment to drag it everywhere. I go through these little point and shoots in about 18 months because I do carry them everywhere, in my pocket, around my neck, around my wrist, they take a beating and they take thousands of photos. I purchased one last spring that was disappointingly slow in focusing and shooting though it took decent videos, but the battery door was already beginning to wear out and I was constantly disappointed with its ability to just take the picture—now!
I wanted a fast shutter, of course, but I also wanted one that could handle the type of photos I take—action without blur, brilliant color that doesn’t oversaturate, contrast because I love light and shadow, and one with a good sense of black for, of course, trying to focus on several black cats in one photo. Without studio lights, this can be a real problem. I also wanted one that could take video saved in a some common file format so I can play around with it.
This is truly not possible in a point and shoot that doesn’t have more manual controls than they usually offer, but learning any camera’s limitations is just as important as knowing its assets and in time anyone can take clear and beautiful photos by knowing what the camera can do.
I was considering one of the cameras intended to take a beating—waterproof, shockproof, coldproof and so on, and while reviews showed they performed admirably for these qualities, they lacked in color quality, speed, even fast shots and marginal light, opting to increase the ISO instead of truly metering for the light and possible blur, which creates a photo with a lot of “noise”, or graininess, in the dark areas or even all through the photo.
I also wanted one that could take regular old batteries I could buy off the shelf in a pinch, like if I was at an event and my battery died, but most cameras have proprietary batteries now. That’s because we demand this kind of speed and clarity, and regular batteries can deliver that but at the cost of battery life. Manufacturers design batteries best suited to the camera’s needs. I don’t like it, but everything is a compromise.
So if you’re curious, I got a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH27, moving away from my loyalty to Pentax because I’m not happy with their point and shoots, though I love my DSLR. The shutter is satisfyingly fast so I’m getting the shots I’m planning, though the recovery time is a little long, and for the most part there is little blur and fast action and low light are handled with agile blur correction and very little film grain.
And it’s good with color. Looking at the photo of Mimi, though the sun is shining the room is dark because I had the blind pulled down. There is no camera shake evident, and this camera even managed to capture the delicate tones of brown in both Mimi and the mahogany headboard. I had to open the shadows a little in Photoshop because they were a little bit saturated, and the brightest areas have lost their detail. But this camera handled this shot better than most of the previous point and shoots, even handling the focal length without distortion. For a shot like this, instead of getting up close to my subject, I back up a little a zoom in so that she isn’t foreshortened.
Slideshow to come some time this week, but at least here’s one report. Now back to the second coat of paint on my studio walls.
Inspired by felines you know! Visit Portraits of Animals.
All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item. Subscribe to The Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter. © 2022 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski Weekly schedule of features: Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters Tuesday: Rescue Stories Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork Thursday: New Merchandise Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
Copyright
Subscribe to my e-newsletter
PORTRAITS OF ANIMALS WEBSITE
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | LINKEDIN | PINTEREST | TUMBLR | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE| EMAIL
| PATREON
© 2016 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski
—
Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
—
