National Camera Day is coming up on June 29th! It’s the perfect day to celebrate the subjects of most of the pictures in our phones — our cats!
It’s great that there are gazillions of photos of cats all over social media and the internet, but unfortunately there are just as many terrible photos of cats out there that do little more than offend our eyeballs.
So with National Camera Day on the horizon, here’s a cheat sheet for taking better pics of your beloved furball.
Are you planning to take some pictures of your cat on National Camera Day? Got any tips for getting great feline shots? Let us know in the comments below!
National Camera Day Cats
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Stop Using Your Phone's Flash!
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So many bad cat photos could be corrected by simply turning off the phone or camera's flash.
Not only can the flash startle your cat, but the unnecessarily harsh additional lighting can turn your cute kitty into something with eyes from a horror movie. This also applies to your own selfies in bars and restaurants, just FYI.
Instead of using flash, try to capture your cat by a natural light source, such as the sunlight around a window. You'll be amazed at the difference in quality.
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Get Down To Your Cat's Level
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Kneeling or lying down so that you're on the same low level as your cat will produce more dynamic and varied opportunities to capture your cat at their sleek and charismatic best.
So ditch all those top down kitty pics and get on your cat's level.
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Clutter Is Bad
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Before snapping, take a minute to look around your cat and consider how the photo is framed.
Is there a huge pile of dirty laundry or unopened mail in the background? If so, change your angle and distance from your cat to make sure the items are not in the picture.
Remember: Your cat should be the clear focus of your photo. Anything that detracts from that should not be in the shot.
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Focus, Focus, Focus!
(Picture Credit: Getty Images)
Camera phone technology has made focusing easier than ever, but you'll still see blurry or out-of-focus shots when someone scrolls through their cat pics. Don't be that person.
Instead, make sure your cat is clearly in focus, usually by touching their image on the digital camera or phone's screen, and also focus on their eyes.
If you're attempting to catch pics of your cat while they're on the move, the "burst" mode on your phone or camera should increase your chances of capturing sharp pics.
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Treat Your Way To Success
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Cats are obviously not the most obedient of models, so use a few tricks to get their attention and keep them looking at the camera.
Clicking your fingers or moving your hand might work as a ruse to get them to look at the lens. Likewise, toys or treats can also be employed to get their attention. You can try placing a treat right above your lens to get that perfect glance.
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Use Post-Processing Exposure Tricks
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Once you've got a solid picture of your cat, feel free to try out some of the filters in your favorite social media or camera app. But don't use anything too dramatic or drastic that detracts from your feline's natural charm and beauty.
Finally, if you're dealing with a black or a white cat, the "exposure" setting in your phone's photo-editing app can be a real help. For shooting a white cat, simply move the slider so the photo is slightly overexposed; when it comes to black cats, slide it down so the pic is a little underexposed.
