This is little, charming Gabriel, my darling boy cat, making a sinister smile and his beady eyes are looking sinister too. A pure illusion. He is not sinister, of course. It is just the way his mouth is formed. It is nice, though, that he can give the illusion that he is smiling human-style 😉 .
I love photographing him although it is always tricky. It takes a certain amount of patience to get a decent cat photo as I am sure most people realize. This was taken with a Sony camera lens which gave the impression to Gabriel that he was not being photographed because I was viewing the image on a smart phone to my left. The image was sent wirelessly to it. A camera lens is a small cylindrical object that does not look like a camera and is, therefore, very unintimidating. It was on a mini-tripod in front of him.
I held a video lighting unit (a bank of LED lights powered by batteries) over my head directed at the white ceiling so the light reflected back onto the bed where Gabriel was lying. It produced a soft light. There was no other light source as it was taken late in the evening when it was dark outside.
The exposure was around 1/10th of a second so Gabriel was pretty still at the time and the F stop was around F4. The device works by connecting to the smartphone wirelessly so I can operate the camera from the phone. The phone and camera/lens can be far apart if needs be.
Yes, in truth, he is the opposite of sinister!
He does look sinister but its just the way you’ve caught him 🙂 he’s gorgeous though not sinister and he’s so lucky to have you 🙂
sorry it took me so long to reply. .. I am just now getting through all my mail!!! I am a poker dealer (croupier) in a casino. . . ♥♥♥
Lovely story Eva. Gabriel loses his toys all the time and he has lost a miniature snow leopard I have (a mini-plush toy). He carted it off like prey from my desk and it is hidden somewhere. I swear I can’t find it.
Yes, they are. Robinson’s Genetics mentions these:
The flash light has revealed the ghost tabby pattern.