Sports Photography How To

A Cat’s Eye View
Photographer Jaanus Ree visualized this image in his head before he shot it but the idea to use a cat was a last-minute decision borne out of necessity.

“After seeing a portrait in a bookstore where I was able to see the photographer’s silhouette against the reflection of an eye, I got the idea to make something similar,” Ree notes. “I played around with the idea and thought about making a silhouette shot through an elephant’s eye but the local zoo did not approve it! So the next best thing was my cat. We used a 6x9-meter white sheet meant for shooting cars as a softbox. In front of that, Erik Orgo and Kristo Õismets started to perform. We made several good shots, even a few in black and white, but color worked out the best.”

Ree, who is from Estonia, used a Nikon D810 and a Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 lens at f/14, ISO 640, 1/200 second to capture the image, which was a finalist in the Red Bull Illume 2016 contest.

See a larger version of the image here. You can see more of Ree’s work at facebook.com/www.jree.ee and instagram.com/jaanusree.