we have a big backyard at my workplace with a huge cat population. Sometimes during my lunch break i like to go out with my camera ready waiting for something interesting/funny to happen (as it often goes with cats). The following collection might not have any funny moments but i like those pics for some reason... The young ones The teenager And their mom And my cat which i adopted from the same place about a year ago
gee youve got a lot of cats... Simba!! Nice pics 1-2 has too much direct flash for my taste. use a diffuser since you probably couldnt bounce. But if you're wearing a white shirt, you can bounce the flash off you. I like 3-4 the best, natural lighting and a good look in their eyes. 3 looks slightly soft.
akpoly: 1-2 were shot using built in flash, i wish i had an external one . The 1-2 were shot with my tamron while the 3-4 were shot today actually with the 100mm macro. compared to the first pics no flash was needed as the shots were taken out in the open while the first pics were shot under the bush. Shadowed_fury: i too like #3, but i don't want to crop it further as i like the general crop, all i need is to get rid of those leafs. i think it can be done on a fairly unnoticeable level with some PSing, it's just that i'm not the man for the job in this case
#1 and 2 both are too shallow of a DoF - It makes me feel like the picture is out of sync that only the face of the one cat is in focus and the rest is not. Portraiture is fine but this needed more aperture. You have flash, it should be possible #3 is actually a great shot.
I agree with everyone else - the shallow DOF and direct flash kill #1 and #2 (the catchlights and confused looks caused by the flash really hurt them too, beyond just the lighting). #3 and #4 are fairly solid - they both have some minor distractions in them (the pine needles (?) in #3 and that cracker or whatever in #4) but neither really bother me. A little cropping would add a lot to both shots. #5 is OK, but that thing on the right that the cat is leaning up against is distracting me quite a lot. Makes me want the 100mm macro too (and a cat, for that matter ), that thing seems dangerously sharp.
ok guys i feel your comments about the shallow DOF, then again those pictures were shot in my early experimenting days with this camera i didn't know what i was doing, i just added the pics to the collection cause i liked the expressions on the cat's faces rather than the technical aspect of those shots. Firehed: i'd like to see what you mean by further cropping. please feel free to crop the images how you want, i'm open for suggestions As for the 100mm macro, yeah it's razor sharp
Just a couple quick attempts. Nothing major on the landscape-oriented ones, just got rid of the little distracting bits I'd mentioned. On the portrait one I lined up the top-right intersection with the cat's eye, just to see the effect - I think it worked out okay. I wonder why the heck Photoshop doesn't have a rule-of-thirds overlay like Lightroom
lol. thanks for the suggestions Firehed can't decide which one i like more, 1 or 2. not sure if i like the cropped body on the right though. maybe it's a matter of taste 3 is fine, if that cracker was disturbing you, not much detail is lost anyway
Yeah, it was really driving me nuts for whatever reason. I'm just OCD that way I guess. I had to crop #2 a bit tighter on the right than I'd really have liked, mostly because I suck at the healing brush tools in PS/LR and those pine needles had to go.
FYI, one cat going from Dubai to Johannesburg was $5,000. That doesn't include the kenneling you'd need for the quarantine in the UK. Better to go down to the local animal shelter, pay the 20 pounds in fees and have a cat ready for the delightful English climate. Besides, #3 is glatt kosher.
