I pulled out a new peacock feather to play with Dougy. When I sat down on the glider, Andy hopped up on his favorite front room perch, the light stand. His interest piqued by what I had in my hand, he soon began playing the old game of “Feather” like he did as a kitten.
“I have to make a video of this,” I thought. It’s one thing to tell people Andy’s feeling a lot better. It’s another to show him playing, proof of it!
Andy sees the peacock feather…
Andy definitely was wound this morning, as this video shows:
There you go. Andy was very playful this morning!
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Hi terrific blog! Does running a blog such as this take a massive amount work?
I have very little understanding of computer programming however I was hoping to start my own blog
soon. Anyhow, if you have any suggestions or tips for new blog owners please share.
I understand this is off topic but I just wanted to ask.
Cheers!
If you enjoy writing and have topics that interest you, a blog writes itself. I have a rule of thumb: If I don’t feel like doing a daily blog, I skip a day. That takes the pressure off to come up with a new topic on days I don’t feel any inspiration. Of course, when one has naughty cats, new topics often come up! Also, doing a daily blog is like any habit. Once you form the habit, it becomes something you do without all of the “I better get off my butt and do this thing!” stress that one may go through at the first.
WordPress blogs are easy to start, though you may stumble till you feel a bit more confident about your computer skills. It isn’t that hard to select a format from the many offered, and, if down the road you decide to change it, it is done automatically for you after you select the new format and click on the place where you initiate the change. If you see the change still isn’t what you like, you can go back to your original format just as easily. There is help available from WordPress staff if you get lost in the business, but most times you can look through the options on the screen, look at them, and see what is there to help you make your blog more attractive or fun to do. (Trust in your ability to make changes and updates because you will learn through missteps and gain confidence through successes!)
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Andy is looking good and he is so adorable. I know boy kitties are not supposed to be called adorable but they are not only beautiful, but those sweet little faces are so adorable.
I can see why they own your heart.
I guess we could refer to boy cats as – forgive me! – “purrdy” and get away with it. Besides, as we know, even boy cats can’t help it if they are beautiful and adorable just the same.
I tell you, when I have him wrapped in a towel to give him his medication, that little face is so angelic, baby-like, I forget he has boy cat cooties, is sometimes mean to his brother, and makes me work to catch him for veterinarian and groomer appointments, and…!
(Speaking of which, I haven’t caught him yet to give him today’s dose of medicine. I saw him go into the bathroom just now, which can be one of the easier places to catch him, if I play it right. See ya!)
That was fun to watch. Thanks for that one.
Thanks! I should have started making the video a few minutes earlier when he and his brother Dougy were chasing each other around the house!
I find video too difficult, I always miss something. So I applaud your ability to capture those moments.
I usually get something different than what I started out to get. Also, i shoot lots of video, then edit out at least half or more of it to get to the part that looks like it might be interesting to others. I try to keep the whole thing to a minute or less, though this one is an exception. Most people don’t have time to watch long videos.
As for photos, I constantly fight lack of decent light inside plus the fact that the boys have hair that color-shifts in different light, especially camera flash.
They basically are black cats to look at them, but, if you look closely, you can see their Birman father’s markings: They would look like long-haired Siamese cats if they weren’t dark.
The reason the video is in sepia is I couldn’t get the color balance to look right with the light from the lamp on the stand where Andy plays in the video. For some reason, processing the in sepia or black and white, more detail shows in his (or his brother’s) face than in color when I make videos in that part of the living room.
No less than any other skill, the more you practice and adjust your work to reflect what you learn, the better your work becomes. In my case, learning how to use the WIndows Live Movie Maker, a very basic editing program, took a bit of effort. Now it’s a snap to use in that even though I don’t always get what I want the first time, I generally figure out what I need to do differently! (Plus, if you don’t save what you mess up, you still have your original file when you get better at using the program!)
I think the best way to capture cats, dogs, or children in videos is to keep your plan very simple. If you plan to make still photographs of a pet, you might think, “I will photograph my cat playing with a feather.” Then you take a dozen photos of him doing that, selecting out the one you think looks best for showing your playing with a feather later. In this case, the best photo still was very soft focus (practically unfocused!) because of the low light level and the fact I use a simple point-and-shoot camera that serves my purposes, if less than ideally.
Video is no different. You just have the added element of time. Jumps in the action, where part of the story is missing (which happens a lot with pets and children!) can be covered with a dissolve between the end of one edit and the start of the next. There are lots of those in the video above since the “story” isn’t one with a start, a middle, and a finish so much as a series of scenes where my cat’s playing with a feather. Music helps tie disparate elements together, too.
Another technique is to use captions between breaks in the action. The following video was pointless until I made up a story to fit what I had on video. In the middle scene (where Dougy thinks about the meaning of time…), I actually had to slow down the action by changing the play speed to 1/2 normal. That was the only way I had enough to fill the spot! Also, it gave Dougy a more pensive look.
http://youtu.be/6azF7o-96U0
I guess what all of this discussion is about is to encourage you to try short videos and see what you come up with! Your blog is imaginative, fun, and I think you can match that in video if you let yourself!
I am so happy to see that Andy feels much better.
On top of all, this was taken after he’d already played several minutes with his brother Dougy (chasing each other through the house), then five or six minutes with me. He was starting to get tired by the time I realized I had a good opportunity to make a video of him being a cat!
Oh, the joys of happy cats!
Yes! In Andy’s case, he has a rumble of a purr. It always seems over-sized to a smallish cat, which he is! His brother purrs more softly, but demonstrates he’s happy with happy paws.