How to take good photographs of black cats

Photos by Lisa Huber

Fall is in the air. The days are getting shorter. The leaves are starting to change and it is almost time for Halloween. Halloween is the black cat’s time in the spotlight.

Black cats are difficult to photograph, especially if they are indoor pets. Natural light is always the best light for photography, but with an indoor cat, your options are limited.

The interiors of houses are often dark, so when you take photographs indoors, usually your camera’s flash will fire, especially if your camera is on the automatic setting. Red-eye usually occurs when photographing black cats indoors using flash photography. Red-eye occurs when flash bounces off the blood vessels of the retinas of your subject's eyes. No one wants their pets to have demon eyes, not even on Halloween.  

Some easy things that you can do to get good shots of your pets indoors are:

Turn off your camera’s flash

Flashes on point and shoot cameras often produce red-eye. If you turn off your camera’s flash, you will need more light to take the shot. Choose rooms where there is a lot of natural light coming in through windows. Position your pet so the light illuminates his or her face.

Make use of the room’s ambient light

If you have to use your camera’s built in flash because the room is too dark or it is nighttime, turn on all the lights in the room. The more ambient light there is in a room, the less likely red-eye will occur. It also helps to have your subject look at your shoulder instead of right at your camera, so try to direct your pet’s attention there.

Use bounce flash

If you have an SLR camera with an external flash, aim the flash at the ceiling instead of your pet. This technique is called bounce flash and produces diffused, even light.

Use an SLR camera

In the above example, the photo on the left was taken with a point and shoot camera using the built in flash. The photo on the right was taken with an SLR camera with the flash pointed at the ceiling. Notice what a difference it makes!

SLR cameras take better photos because their sensors, the device inside the camera that records the photograph is larger than in point and shoot cameras. All point and shoot cameras have a slight delay from the time you push the shutter release and the time the camera takes the picture. SLRs do not have that delay, which is helpful when photographing subjects like pets and children who do not like to hold still. SLR cameras have more options such as external flashes and other settings that can help you capture great photos.

No matter what kind of camera you have, these tips should help you get great shots of your black cat just in time for Halloween!