On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Cheryl
Hello all….at the suggestion of Watergirl, I thought I might post up some of my shelter and personal photos because you can never have enough photos of animals in 2021, right?
I’m a very long time lurker here…..I think I’ve been reading virtually since day one. I was an early adopter of DailyKos, My Left Wing, all the golden oldies of days past. I save most of my snarky political commentary for Twitter these days (@CLSmithArts) but maintain a presence on FB and IG @clsmithphotography for photos. Yes, yes….FB is the biggest corporate bad guy out there but they are a Godsend for shelter photographers. FB is invaluable for getting shelter pets seen and saved.
Here are a few of the photos from the thousands I’ve taken over the years….I mostly photograph the older or harder to adopt kitties for Oregon Humane Society here in Portland and Cat Adoption Team in Sherwood, OR. Following are a few of my recent favorites with maybe a few pointers on how to take great pics of your pets (yes, I’m talking to you, John Cole)
Update from WaterGirl at 9 am:
As you read above, Cheryl’s photo Luna, was submitted as part of PetCo Love Stories. She just got word late last night that the submission won $25,000 for the shelter.
That is a big Joe Biden deal! And then some!!!! Congratulations, Cheryl!
This is my oldest cat, Cleo. She will be 16 this year….hard to believe, isn’t it? This is a cell phone shot. My best advice for cell phone pet photos (or any photo for that matter) is to focus on the eyes and crop, crop, crop. Make the cat the focal point, all the extraneous stuff in the background can go
This is my second oldest girl, Boo. She lost an eye last year to melanocytoma. Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to either notice the difference or doesn’t let it slow her down
This big girl is my Ivy….16 pounds of floof and attitude! She has her own IG page @ivytipsover where she shows off her most natural pose, laying on her back
This cat is doing her best impression of a Margaret Keane painting
This shot was taken without flash inside a kennel in a dimly lit room. I use a very fast lens (f1.8, 35mm) and shoot with the lens wide open. Shallow depth of field works well for animal photography as it serves to blur out undesirable background noise. The whiskers on this girl are amazing!
This lovely lady was a bit rough around the edges….she was missing a bit of fur on her back end and her tail was a bit scraggly. Sometimes the job is just presenting kitty in her best light just to get her some attention even if it doesn’t necessarily reflect reality. She didn’t languish at the shelter long….she was adopted within a week of her arrival
I take kitten pictures for fun…they get adopted so quickly there’s little point in spending much time on them. Both shelters I shoot for have various publications that need those attention grabbing photos to entice donors. I am here for that
This was a little different project. I went to the home of one of Cat Adoption Team’s adoptive families for a special photo session for PetCo Love Stories. It took me 2 hours to get this particular shot of a very shy kitty but she finally lost patience with me chasing her around and gave me this sly little grin. You can read the full story of Luna and her dad Jason here
Low Key Swagger
Those are some beautiful shots.
laura
Very lovely kiki’s!
p.a.
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Benw
Those cats are the bee’s knees!
Amir Khalid
It’s the life and soul in these faces that make them so beautiful. I don’t know how anyone who has seen that life and soul can maintain the belief that cats and other animals are dumb creatures aware only of theimmediate present.
debbie
Beauties all!
ThresherK
My wife’s previous cat before the current cat-in-residence was also a tortie named Cleo. Cleo and her sister were littermates and wonderfully full of the tortie attitude.
No wonder that calicos and torties are my weakness.
Betty
What a lovely set of kitties. It sounds like one of the keys to good kitty photos is patience. Two hours for Luna.
stinger
Great photos — thanks for the tips — and in a great cause!
WaterGirl
As you read above, Cheryl’s photo of Luna was submitted as part of PetCo Love Stories.
Cheryl just got word late last night that the submission won $25,000 for the shelter.
That is a big Joe Biden deal! And then some!!!! Congratulations to Cheryl and the shelter!
Lyrebird
@WaterGirl: That is SO AWESOME!!!!!
If Cheryl would be willing to talk about lighting tips I’d be very obliged. Dan B has already lit up our home by offering recommendations, and I’m ready to learn more.
MazeDancer
What wonderful photos!
And 25K is , indeed, a BFD! Luna pic is especially remarkable. Way to go!
HinTN
The very shy kitty is a great shot, as is Cleo. All are wonderful and confirm what @Amir Khalid: said.
Thank you for these and your work with the shelter.
Zelma
Lovely pictures. Lovely story.
Quiltingfool
Cheryl, thank you so much for this story! I had to read about Luna, loved it. When all the “doom” political news gets me down, I go to the LoveMeow website and read cat rescue stories. It helps me cope.
West of the Cascades
Lovely photos! My two kitties (Sheba and Shasta) came to me through Cat Adoption Team, although they were temporarily at Purrington’s Cat Lounge when I adopted them. Portland was having a “cat deficit” at the time and CAT was bringing cats in from as far away as St. Louis (mine were from Roseburg in Southern Oregon).
SkyBluePink
What a meaningful life calling.
And the photos are wonderful!
Cheryl
@Lyrebird: I shoot with natural light so most of the photo magic is made in Photoshop. Even the native photo editing tools on your phone are quite powerful. In future I may post before and after shots and explain the editing process
Cheryl
No name
@Cheryl: First of all, congratulations! And yes, please do a before and after post on your portraits.
JustRuss
Wonderful pics. The cats in my acquaintance have a talent for stopping whatever adorable thing they’re doing as soon as I get a camera ready.
susanna
Kudos to you, the photo-taking talent learned, for personal and good-cause pursuits.
Congratulations on the award and yes, please give pointers on the picture-taking – much appreciated.
Interstadial
Wow.. amazing kitty shots! Thank you for sharing these.
Dan B
We used to visit friends in Sherwood. They had a farmlet with amazing landscaping by a landscape designer friend. Great memories. They threw big garden parties where the guests wore clothes worth more than my car.