Stroll Cat Walk.

Took Keesha and Jadey out for a walk tonight, but it was drizzly and Keesha wanted to go home early. So we headed home but we bumped into Atom along the way.

After dropping Keesha off home, Jadey Atom and I went out for another walk in the slight drizzle. Jadey doesn't usually like being wet but she tolerated it tonight. Atom loves the rain but when we get home he always demands I dry him with a towel.

So here's a series from tonight's cat walk.

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Thanks Gary.

I go full manual for the dark shots. If I left anything up to the M8, it'll royally screw exposure by over-doing it.

I sort of know the light conditions around my neighbourhood at night and I always shoot at f/1.1 to take as much exposure load off the M8.

I then set up the shutter speed anywhere around 1/4 to 1/30 and ISO 320 - 640. Once I set everything, I will only change the shutter speed maybe a click or two within the 1/4 - 1/30 range depending on how far away from the street lights we are and/or whether the cats are moving or still.

With the M8 I can't speed up the shutter due to motion blur, and I can't raise the ISO any higher due to excessive noise, so some photos will be under-exposed when we are furthest from the streetlights. I have no alternative but to correct for those shots in post.
 
Cats really like their night excursions. I used to sit on the stoop in front of the house watching the kids play and chase fireflies while the cat would slink out the front door and prowl around in the bushes beside me. Couldn't let her get too far because she's black and not easy to see at night but also because I was never sure she'd come back. Was afraid to test it. This is really great what you have going on with your cats!
 
Cats really like their night excursions. I used to sit on the stoop in front of the house watching the kids play and chase fireflies while the cat would slink out the front door and prowl around in the bushes beside me. Couldn't let her get too far because she's black and not easy to see at night but also because I was never sure she'd come back. Was afraid to test it. This is really great what you have going on with your cats!

When your cat is prowling in the bushes, does it respond to you when it wanders too far?

Earlier during tonight's walk, Atom slunk under a gate and disappeared into the darkness of somebody's front yard. I thought he decided to go hang out on his own but he suddenly appeared out of no where in the next street when he jumped at us out of another front yard with his tail waving in delight at having caught us off guard. Totally cheeky boy, he is.

He would've had to travel diagonally through at least four properties, jumping all the fences through the backyards to get to where he caught us in the other street.
 
When your cat is prowling in the bushes, does it respond to you when it wanders too far?

This was years ago as she is now 20. But when she was younger she would paw at the door when I sat outside so I'd lean back and open it and she'd come out. She'd go down into the planter in the bushes but eventually she'd go around the corner of the house under the arborvitae and she didn't respond right away if I tried to call her back. When she didn't, I went after her and didn't give her time. I feared her running off and if she did, my kids were young at the time, I wouldn't have been able to chase after her so I curtailed her getting far. I didn't want an outside cat anyway.. but it really is fun to see the shots of your cat walks.
 
Yeah I totally understand.

With both my cats, I had to trust that they'd come back. Actually it starts from when I first got Jadey when she was a kitten, and Atom when he was a kitten years later, both from the shelter. There has to be an immediate connection so you know that there is going to be a familial bond.

When Jadey was young she used to perch her on my shoulder while I took the dogs out for a walk, so she got used to the concept of walks very early. When I eventually let her down from my shoulder, I had to trust that she would keep up.

When I got Atom, I'd take him out for walks too and let him see Jadey coming along with us. In the beginning I would catch him and bring him back into the house but eventually I had to trust that he would've learnt that if I left him out there, he could always get back into the house round the back.
 
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