Maga in the mist

Well it's something of a miracle neither of the cats have been blipped yet, but it was sooooo cold today that I decided to do a studio shot of our older cat, Maga. My studio was the kitchen, nearly as cold as outside but the only indoor source of nourishment and sustenance.

Maga's named after 'La Maga', a character in Julio Cortazar's novel Rayuela (English title Hopscotch, and a great read). I suppose an English translation of the Spanish word maga would be something between a witch and a wise woman. F suggests 'sorceress'.

For my record (and those interested) I created a background layer in Photoshop, and on it erased all of Maga leaving only the background. I applied a heavy Gaussian blur to this level and brought it to the top. By erasing with reduced opacity I was able to generate a misty effect with the blurring.

This camera business is hard work. Not only are there a million things to do when taking a shot but there ae also a million more tricks and techniques in post-processing. Still, in this case I think it was worth it.

Watch this space for the other cat, soon.