When you sit in the theater wide-eyed and mesmerized by the latest Scorcese or Spielberg production, do you ever stop and think about all the work that went into putting it all together? Both Mr. S’s had crews of talented individuals to take care of each and every detail, starting with developing the idea to wrapping up production.
Well you too can direct a perfect production even though you have only one talented person in your crew — yourself. You already have the star: LeMieux, your cat. Yes, your cat will really star this year, but you’re going to have to step into five behind-the-scenes roles.
Photo by Flickr user AZAdam
Casting Director
Casting directors pick the right person for each role. Ellen Lewis, Mr. Scorcese’s go-to casting director summed it up perfectly in a New York Times interview “We want nothing more than for an actor to walk in and do a great job.” You already have the right person — or pet in this case. What you want is the right role.
What kind of personality does your kitty have? Is she a born role player, willing to put up with yuletide props, or will she bat them down, or even worse, shred them? Is she the high-fashion model type, willing to get all dolled up, or at least let you crown her with a Santa Hat or festive ribbon for sixty seconds?
If you find yourself answering no, no and no, it’s probably best that you catch her in a candid moment. The beauty of digital cameras is that they’re always ready to catch her at her most adorable.
Lighting Director
The very best lighting director? Mother Nature. The very worst? Your camera’s flash. Use a flash and you’re practically guaranteeing that you’ll come up with those yellow-green glaring eyes. Scary eyes are great for Halloween, but we’re talking Christmas.
If your cat is the outdoor type, the sunlight is easy. If she’s the pampered indoor type, catch her in a sunlit room. Hopefully you can sneak in a few props — a wrapped gift or an ornament or two.
Supporting Cast
Maybe you’d like to appear in a cameo shot this year. No one around to take a shot.? No problem. Hold the camera above your head, make sure your faces are filling the frame and shoot. Don’t hold the camera too far away. There’s nothing worse than those long arm shots. Try a few solo practice shoots so you get the knack. After all, they’ll be sorted out later.
The Cutting Room
What did we ever do without digital cameras? Download your photos to your computer. Review them all. And now for the hardest part of producing custom Christmas cards — pick the best one. Use whatever editing tools your computer offers for adjusting color and exposure. Crop if necessary.
The Set Designer
This is the easiest part. Send it off to a stationer that specializes in custom Christmas cards. Many, like Mint.com, offer a captivating choice of templates to surround your star with the Christmas spirit.
That’s it. Call it a wrap! Grab the kitty treats. Time for the wrap party.
I personally feel that this is one of my best cat photos taken candidly at home.I use a ordinary 16 Mp digital camera and at times the simple logic of “BEING AT THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME” and decades of clicking photo’s at various angles gives me “Professional Results. Check this photo of cats Matahari & Matata staring at the camera.
I love this picture Rudolph – it’s perfect in many ways. Beautiful cats, great expression, great pose and then good light – nice photo. If you wan’t I can remove the date and time if you want to frame it for example.
Thanks for the compliments Marc. I have another photo in which i removed the time & Date with an intention of framing the same.
Great! I think it’s wonderful.
By the way Rudolph – do you have any particular opinionon the recent sentencing of the remaining 4 in Delhi with regard to the crime they committed on a bus?
I know it’s an extremely big thing there and alot of people are happy and a few others who are against the severity of the sentence are quoting Gandhi and saying it should be less harsh.
I agree with Marc, this is a fine photo and they are rare cats.
My Gigi is great in front of a camera – she always looks at the camera. But Molly – never ever – she does. not. look. ever. if I am holding a camera 🙂
You may have guessed that this article was not written by me but a person working for a media company. A change of theme! Completely different to the usual stuff on PoC. I’d love to do a card with Gigi. I might give it a try and photograph the card for PoC for fun.
Marc would you mind uploading a picture if Gigi on this page and I’ll have a go?
Sure. By the way – and this is to all the regulars – a big part of my job involves working with photoshop and there isn’t much I haven’t tried with it. If ever anyone wants a suit and hat on their cat or some other kind of manipulation then please feel free to ask. I’d be happy to help 🙂
Michael – here is a pic of a reclining supermodel Gigi:
slightly closer up- shame about my bag strap. By the way you can see I don’t fuss over my cats clawing the couch 🙂
Here she is with the strap removed – I’ll do a card with this photo to see how it turns out.
Just done a card. When I receive it I’ll photograph it. If you want it. you’ll have to email me your address.
It is a card from Gigi to you.
wow great – I’ll send you my address via email – that’s very kind of you Michael. 🙂
I think you’ll like it.