With the success of the inaugural Burmese Cat Calendar, the committee have agreed to do it again for 2023, so we'll be looking for more awesome photos of your Burmese, Mandalay's, Birmilla's and Bombay's.  You've got the next 10 months to obtain the purrfect shots of your pets and because we know that cats aren't always accommodating, provided here are some tips for taking photos with a smartphone.  Send your photos to photos@burmesecatclub.nz   Ensure that you send the largest (or Actual Size) photo is sending straight from a smartphone.   This will ensure that you send the best quality image at 3508px x 2480px (A4 size) for print reproduction.  The number of pixels per inch is equally as important.  Aim for higher than 240ppi but 300ppi is better. 

Finding your image size on specific devices

Instructions for finding photo size on iPhone are here,  Android are here,  Windows here, and finally MacOS here

Use the volume button to prevent camera shake

Camera shake is the main enemy of getting a sharp photo. If it happens, it’s bound to cause blurriness, and that’s an effect you won’t be happy to see in your photo… unless it’s intentional, of course! Especially if you're taking a selfie, it’s really hard to tap the camera shutter button, especially with your hand outstretched. The easy way is to simply squeeze the volume up button on the side of your iPhone to snap the picture.
Obviously, this is most convenient when the phone is help in landscape orientation (i.e. sideways).

Get a candid shot with your earphones

Following on from the previous tip, have you ever considered using your smartphone’s ear phones to shoot without being noticed? This doesn’t have to be as creepy as it sounds! You may want to take a candid shot of your kids, without them staring and doing one of those fake smiles into the camera, for example…! Next time, try holding your camera towards your subject, and holding the earphones in your other hand, use the volume up button on the earphones to take some candid photos. Also, if you have the earphones actually in your ears, no one will suspect you’re taking a picture 😉

Take more photos than you want or need

Take lots of photos. Professional photographers take hundreds, even thousands of photos during the course of a single photoshoot. The more you take, the better the odds that you’ll come away with the shot you wanted. When photographing cats, taking multiple shots is the best way to ensure you get a good expression, and the same holds true for wildlife and people photography.

Capture action shots using Burst mode

Burst mode is a quick and easy modification to your shutter button that allows you to take 10 shots per second. In order to turn it on, you simply need to hold your finger on the shutter button once you have the camera app up and running, and multiple shots will be fired off automatically. This is a great way to capture fast-moving action, silhouettes, children, and group photos. Using the burst mode significantly increases the chance of capturing the subject in the most desirable pose. You can also have a play around with live photos, which capture 1.5 seconds before and after your photo.

Keep a clean lens for clearer photos

Most smartphones spend a very significant time of their lives in the hands of their owners and that means they’re covered in fingerprints. Very often those fingerprints are found on the place where you want them the least: your lens! A useful habit to develop is to get used to quickly cleaning your lens before taking a photo – that can ensure there will be no smudges, dust spots or blurry areas on your image. It may sound like a really simple tip, but this one thing alone can have the biggest impact on getting a clear photos… and most people never bother wiping their phone’s lens (they usually wipe the screen!)

Get perfect focus with manual override

Even if you make sure that your lens is clean in advance and there’s no camera shake, the photo might still look a bit off. One possible reason for that could be that your phone didn’t focus on the right place. To prevent this from happening, did you know you can actually select your focus point manually? Just tap on the screen where you want it to appear. You’ll be able to see the outlines of a yellow square when you tap, to show you that you’ve set the focus on the right place.

Lock your focus for sharper subjects

Now you know how to set your focus point manually using the above iPhone photography tip, but there are some instances where this won’t work. For example, if there’s movement in the scene, the camera might be constantly readjusting the focus point to compensate for the subject’s new position. To overcome this, did you know you can ‘lock’ your focus? Next time, just tap on your subject on the camera screen, and hold your finger down for a couple of seconds – you’ll see ‘AE/AF Lock’ appear. You can either swipe your finger up/down the screen to adjust exposure, or simple tap the shutter button to take the shot. The focus lock will remain until you exit the camera app, or turn off your phone.