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I would suggest cropping out the props as much as possible. Personally, I agree with Helmi Flick's philosophy of 'the cat and nothing but the cat' because they are so beautiful and props are just distracting.




I used to use props in EVERY photo for the rescues. When I came to this forum and started looking at everyone's work (including Helmi's) I immediately changed my opinion and agree that with the quality of the professional photos the props are very distracting, so I started shooting without them.

After quite a bit of trial and error I am now positive that when trying to find homes for the rescues the props DO help (if used correctly). There are a bazillion orange, short hair tabby kittens out there. The photo is what separated my orange tabby from the others. Last week I posted a picture of the tabby with no props. I had no interest in him. This week I posted the pictures with the flowers and received so many inquiries on him and so many comments about how great the photos are. He goes to his adoptive home on Sunday and the woman is traveling SIX hours one way to get him!

Even the picture of the little orange tabby above on the busy background got so much attention. That totally shocked me. While I am in agreement with you about the cat and nothing but the cat (and maybe once my photos get better it will change) there is no doubt that right now the props are helping to get these kitties homes.

Now if I can only figure out how to set up a back light….

Barbra