**********Bug on a Post**********

[bvar22]

Bug loves his tree,
and knows how to use it.













To get down, Bug sometimes just runs
down the tree full speed,



And sometimes he does this!



Maggie joined our family last month.
She likes the tree too. The tree
is a regular stop on their
never ending game of Kitty Tag.





Maggie still needs a little "help"
to get down from the top. This is how
she lets us know she is stuck.




For more about Bug and Maggie, Go here:
When Worlds Collide

Maggie & Bug get sick

Bug in the Tub

[prozacnation]

1. Too cute!!!

Thanks for sharing. What a great idea.

[Digit]

2. What a great idea...

What would happen if you also had a male dog in the house?

Sorry, had to ask.

Really though, great way to spoil the kitties. Love it!

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Bug is incredibly handsome. Maggie is adorable. Your pictures are

wonderful.. You are wonderful parents, and have done terrific things for your cats. When I die I want to come back as one of your cats!!!
I am now going to go check out the rest of your pictures.
Thanks so much for sharing these great pictures....Please keep doing so.

[Lorien]

4. What wonderful photos!

I always enjoy your kitty photo essays. Bug is such a big handsome boy, and Maggie looks like a real sweetie-I knew they would be playing "tag" in no time!

My favorite is the one of Bug peeking over the top of his "tree" with that crazy playface expression-too cute! The ones in "full flight" are amazing too. What kind of camera are you using? I'd love to see a video of him "walking" down his tree. Have you ever thought of entering an animal video contest, or pet photo contest with some of these? You could probably do pretty well for yourself!

Thanks for the pics! :hi:

[bvar22]

12. Thanks.

The camera is an Olympus C-750 digital with 4.0 megapixil resolution.
I added a flash attachment to help with indoor action shots (the internal "stock" flash wasn't bright enough for indoor stop action).

The external flash isn't auto-metered by the camera, so I use manual settings. Finding the right settings has been an experimental process. The latest pictures (the ones with Maggie) are getting pretty close (1/400 shutter, f3.5), focal distance about 6 feet.

This camera, and ALL digitals AFIK, are very slow. There is a long time lag between the time you pull the trigger, and the time the camera decides to actually take the picture. Using manual settings eliminates some of the lag, but the camera still does the electronic focusing bit before firing. I have found it impossible to track the target and take a stop action picture.

The only method I have found for stop action pictures is to guess where the subject is going to be at some time in the near future, pre focus (half trigger) on THAT spot, and wait for the subject to run through the pre selected spot.

The "tree" is an easy target because when Bug and Maggie get rowdy, they always hit the tree numerous times. I can set up, pre-focus the camera on the tree, and hold 1/2 trigger until they run through. Bug and Maggie are amazingly fast, and I get many "1/2 cat" or "tails only" shots, so luck plays a BIG part.
I use the widest angle highest resolution available and then crop and resize the picture in Corel PhotoPaint.

In spite of these drawbacks, I love my digital camera. I love getting my pictures back instantly and the ability to make adjustments on the spot. With the digital, I can take alot of bad pictures(and I do), and it costs nothing.

I've always admired your shots of Puck and Oberon. What camera are you using?

[Lorien]

13. Thanks for the information

good idea; focusing on the area before they run through. My guys also have a kitty tree (the traditional sort-nothing creative) and play wild games of kitty tag in the morning. My camera is just a little point-and-shoot Nikon Coolpix 3 and 4 megapixel (broke one, got another), and it's fully automatic with no manual options, so my action shots usually look like this:

:-(

My dad has a 6 megapixal Canon that he's able to use all his professional Canon 35mm lenses and flash with, and it takes AMAZING photos-but the big drawback there is a.) the cost, and b.) the size of the thing. I also have a Canon 35mm EOS, and lugging that thing around on vacations was always a bit of a chore. Is the Olympus a smaller camera, or closer in size to a professional 35mm?

Thanks again for the helpful photo tips!

:hi:

[Phentex]

5. Did you call the fire department to get Maggie down?

:)

I love those pictures!

[Rhiannon12866]

6. What a great idea and a great post! And I loved the photos!

You have some remarkable cats, really entertaining, LOL! Thank you for sharing!:-)

[demnan]

7. Cute cute cute!

My Lily loved climbing trees in her youth but had been an indoor cat for many years. She surprised me last summer by actually climbing the tree in back of my condo. She's 14 and gimpy from arthritis. All her visits outside are supervised.

[bvar22]

10. Lily is beautiful!

I love her color and markings, very unusual and striking.
I noticed a previous picture of her, and thought the color was a "camera or lighting effect".
The color blend on the tree picture is beautiful.

Is she an exotic breed?

[demnan]

11. Lily is half Abyssinian

Her mother was a ruddy Abyssinian. Her father was "the boy next door". He was a brown tabby so the colors remained pretty much the same as the mother cat's.

You can see more pictures of Lily on catster.

http://www.catster.com/?99007

[Suziq]

8. Sooooooo Cute!

What a good idea using a tree limb. Gotta try that.

Your kitties are absolutely adorable! I also have a kitty named Maggie.

Aren't kitties amazing!






:hippie:

[Eurobabe]

9. What a great idea! And super photos!!

Thanks bvar for sharing your splendid kitty pix...more, more...glad to see that they are bonding. :)

[ET Awful]

14. I need to make one of those for Quinn and Althea

They currently have a big metal pipe in the hall of my loft apartment that they think is a tree, and they try to climb it. . . they haven't learned yet that it just doesn't work :)