BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

If you want to go to the trouble, use an acrylic (or glass) cage, but make sure that it is well ventilated and has been sitting open outdoors until the smell of the material is gone. Then put in a room with other cats (color doesn't matter) with suspended catnip toys and the door(s) open. After a while, the odor of cats will permeate the cage and short term confinement with non-suspended (but tethered) catnip toys will not be so traumatic. Remember to close the doors slowly and silently and don't confine the cat for an extended period of time or if one seems panicked. Other enticements can include small amounts of food and/or water. Give your subjects time to become accustomed to the cage (which, by the way, may be tubular). You may find that you will be able to take pictures with the door(s) open; catnip is a great distraction. Plus, cats playing with catnip-laced toys make great pictures. Shoot from indoors, but using maximum ambient light. Avoid flash (LED banks work well, if necessary). Minimize glare; in sun lit areas, use a CPL. One other trick, if you have a small neutered/spayed cat of your own that plays well wither cats, is to take him/her into the room with you and play; this may relax the other cat(s) in the room. Above all, don't be a stranger or threatening presence to the bevy of cats in a room; make them your friends. Last thoughts - use silent shutter mode if possible.

avemal Loc: BALTIMORE

Not easy. Taken yesterady. D500 High ISO 25000--Lots of noise. Still love her.

Harry_in_England

I can only wish you the best of luck as cats don't make 'co-operative' models. I grew up with cats, my wife and I gave a home to several cats and both of my sisters have adopted many cats over the decades. Please note that no-one actually 'owns' a cat - as the saying goes: Dogs have owners but cats have staff!
Cats cannot be coerced but they can be tempted. If your soft box is small enough, just set it down and let the cats find it. They cannot resist a box. However, don't try to 'put' any cats inside the soft box as they will simply walk straight back out. Also, if you try and get the cat to sit or lie in a specific position, you'll be wading against the tide. Cat will not do as they are told - which is what I like most about them.
Your best bet is to have a pocket-full of cat treats - that'll get their attention.
As I said, good luck and I hope your images help to find loving carers for the cats at the shelter.

Fotomacher Loc: Toronto

I would turn down the gig. My camera equipment is not insured for this kind of risk.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

That only works with negative media. If you are using the camera's spot meter on the cat's fur, then you would remove up to one stop to bring the value of the black fur down from gray.

WessoJPEG Loc: Cincinnati, Ohio

Use a Gray Mouse.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Yes,the multi-purpose one!

Szalajj Loc: Salem, NH

As a shelter volunteer, I'm going to say absolutely DO NOT try to bring in your own cat!

All shelter animals are usually quarantined upon arrival to ensure that they do not spread something to the other shelter animals!

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Incident light reading cannot be fooled by dark objects.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I do lots of shelter animal photography. This is what works for me.

1. Bring lighting. Cats don't care about flash after the first pop or two. Either a portable studio with a muslin backdrop and off camera lighting, usually an umbrella and a large white reflector for fill (makes sense if you have a lot to shoot), or just a simple camera mounted flash with a rotating head that you can change the angle on. Relying on natural light will must certainly result in lots of blurry images. Using continuous light can work, but you'd need some powerful units to allow you to use a lower ISO and faster shutter speed. Leave the tiny softbox home. If your other softbox is at least 2-3 ft long, that should be ok. You might want to use a grid to control light spill.

2. If you are using a bare flash, do not bounce the flash at the ceiling - it results in deep shadows where you don't want them. Better to point to the side or behind and slightly above you. It will look like natural light.

3. Whenever possible, borrow one of the shelter's staff who normally works with cats to assist you in handling them. They will have toys and other things to attract the cats' attention.

4. Let the cats get comfortable. Most of the time they are socialized, and don't get anxious with strangers. Watch them for a few minutes, try to capture their personality when you shoot them. With relatively few facial muscles, as compared to dogs, you are less likely to catch an "expression" but body position, eyes, ears, whisker positions and other subtle features will provide "personality" and uniqueness to each cat. A nice advantage of using flash is that their pupils will be wide open, which can be quite captivating.

5.I have photographed hundreds of cats - I have yet to have one bolt on a flash pop. Your experience may be different.

6. For black cat exposure, it is ok if they are a little lighter than black, as long as nothing is blown out. Shoot raw, so you have more options in post processing. This will give you more to work with in post to bring out the structure and texture of the fur. I like to shoot them against a black or dark background, it makes for a very dramatic, low key shot.

7. Not all cats respond to catnip, but it's good to have just in case they do.

8. Try to shoot them individually. Sometimes you will have a bonded pair, and they will be happiest if you shoot them together.

I'll post a couple of examples later.

WessoJPEG Loc: Cincinnati, Ohio

Shoot in black and white. Problem solved.

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

If you don't have an incident meter then try several shots in manual mode. Natural light works fine!
DSCF7204 by nimbushopper, on Flickr

rmm0605 Loc: Atlanta GA

Shoot two stops higher than you would otherwise.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Shooting black cats is no different than shooting white cats or snow or coal or anything else.

You need to light the scene/subject with good light and fill as necessary.


The issue everyone seems to come across is that when reflective metering (camera metering) is used, you get wonky results and so it APPEARS to be difficult when it's not.

As long as you meter correctly for the flashes (hint: buy an incident meter now) and you light the subject, you won't have any problems. You simply pop the meter and flashes and read what the dial says and adjust until you get what you want; power up/power down, move lights closer/farther...you are never guessing with an incident meter.


If you don't use an incident meter to meter your light levels, you will always be in "guess-mode" and won't learn much of anything nor get better at it in a real measurable way.

Rick from NY Loc: Sarasota FL

"You will need to add exposure so the cats will look black as apposed to gray".
"Open compensation 1.5 to 2 stops to make black truly black. Without compensation black cats will be grey."

Uh - sorry guys, but that is exactly the opposite of what you want to do. To get a black cat, you need to UNDEREXPOSE a stop or two. If shooting snow, you need to open up. Think about it - the meter will try to make the black cat gray. In order to make it black, you stop DOWN.

Before you argue with me, try it.