Photographing Your Cat – Part II: Compsition

In the first installment of Photographing Your Cat, I spoke at length about background and how it affects your image. Again I would like to reiterate that the background is just as important as the subject. If the background is lousy, then your image will be mediocre at best. This month, as mentioned in the previous installment, I want to talk a bit about composition.

Composition is defined as the artistic arrangement of parts of a picture. CoFigure 1mposition plays an equal part in making up your image just as the background does. If you are not careful on how you arrange elements in your photo, it could end up being less than what you had envisioned. Let me begin by talking about the “Rule of Thirds”. The “Rule of Thirds” describes how a photographer should break up and image into thirds in the horizontal and the vertical such as in figure 1. Looking at figure 1, you will notice that I have broken the frame into thirds with red lines. The main subject should then be placed at one of the intersections of a horizontal and vertical line as indicated by the black arrows in the figure.

Exactly which intersection to use depends on the subject. Since we are talking aFigure 2bout photographing cats, then a cat will be our subject of choice. As a general rule, your images will be much better if you place the cat at one of the intersections allowing the cat to look into the frame if the cat is small in the frame. If the cat is large in the frame or fills the frame, then you will be much better off to place the cat’s head at one of the intersections. To illustrate, I grabbed up a kitten in the late afternoon with a nice low sun. Baby cat was not much of a cooperative subject and I found it difficult to catch him with his mouth closed. Figure 2 is an example of how not to compose an image and it has a couple of faults I would like to note. First, the kitten was large in the frame and I placed his head at the upper left intersection. The problem here is the kitten’s head is really close to the left side of the frame and he is looking out of the frame. It does not make for a totally pleasing image. Second, going back to the first installment of this article on backgrounds, I did not fully pay attention to what was going on in the background. I did go for a smooth Figure 3out of focus background by using a wide open aperture (small f number) however, I did not get rid of all the distracting elements. If you look right above the kitten’s head, you will notice a white patch in the green foliage. This white spot in the background tends to draw the viewer’s eye away from the subject, in this case the kitten, which is something you do not want to do.

Now let us look at figure 3 which is a more pleasing image. By placing the kittens head in the upper right intersection and being careful with the background, I have an image that has a whole lot more punch and the viewer’s eye is led right to the subject. Notice how I left plenty of room on the right so the kitten is looking into the frame. Figure 4 is another illustration of good composition. This time I caught the kitten looking back over his shoulder and I placed his head in the upper left intersection. The kitten looks very natural and is looking out into its world with plenty of space to the right of the image.

The “Rule of Thirds” is Figure 4not a hard and fast rule and you should notice that the kitten’s head in not placed exactly at the intersection. Also, the rule does not apply when the subject is really large in the frame such as a head and shoulders portrait. In this type of image the subject completely fills the frame. Figure 5 is just such an image. When exposing this type of image a good rule of thumb is to place the subjects face on the vertical center line. If the subject is looking up then leave a bit more room at the top and if the subject is looking down, then leave a bit more room at the bottom. With a little practice, all of this will come natural to you and soon your images will look veFigure 5ry professional.

Until next time, Baby cat (who worked very hard posing) and I thank you for looking. Next time around I will discuss the nemesis of most photographers “Lighting”.
















Ken is the publisher for The Show Cat Online Magazine. If you would like to know more about Ken visit his biographical info or his personal website.