Animal Welfare Professionals

@Elaine Edington A lot of that depends on how well the photographer understands shelter cats. I used to volunteer at a shelter, and the best photos of shy cats came during quiet times like after hours or during the lazy times after their morning feeding. Make sure the clicking sound is turned off on your camera. Know that any cat is always aware of where both of your hands are, not just the one with the camera phone, so if you’re fiddling with something with your other hand, they’ll stop trusting you and disappear. Sit on the floor. Turn so that your body is angled away, speak softly (or be silent, depends on how well the cat knows you) and do slow blinks.  One of the best photos I took of a shy cat was when he was behind a cat tree and I held my camera out to the side and caught him unguarded. It also helps to use the photo burst feature, which takes a lot of photos automatically in a short period and hopefully one of those will turn out!

Obviously, there are some cats so untrusting that this stuff won’t work for, but hopefully it’ll help. 

Appreciate the suggestions for photographing scared cats at the shelter!