Winston the Maine Coon

[0ozma]

Could anyone CC me on these kitty shots? They are straight from the camera and EXIF data should be included. I want to do some post processing on them but I'm not sure what I should do... I shot in RAW+JPEG so pretty much any adjustment is in reach.

I was pretty disappointed by how much AV mode over exposed the sunlight areas :( I'm sure it was my fault though!

I am hoping to choose one of them and frame it for a present :)

Thanks for any help you guys can give!

1.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2993265174_ee49e77091_o.jpg

2.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3152/2992416665_3cb675658d_o.jpg

3.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3154/2993263324_640ef5a179_o.jpg

4.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3189/2993262514_0cf5838b95_o.jpg

5.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3193/2993261796_f2a6c9c2ce_o.jpg

6.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3032/2993261130_db94f747ca_o.jpg

[FlyingPhotog]

I think the last one cropped to a portrait orientation would frame up nicely...

As would the second to last but it could use a couple of tweaks in processing.

Very handsome cat.

[Flo]

Maine coons are wonderful cats! I like #5.with a crop and some level adjustments.contrast, shadows..and even alot of noise reduction. gives it a somewhat watercolor effect..? I like seeing the texture of his hair.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/emmaloudawg/2993261796_f2a6c9c2ce_o.jpg

[0ozma]

That does look pretty nice... Thanks :) He did very well being outside in such a wide open area... I thought he'd run away!

[Walczak Photo]

Well, first off I have to say that is a very beautiful cat...and I'll bet he knows it too! LOL!!! Over all I think the shots are pretty good and most of the stuff I think could be fixed in editing.

#1 is nice, but the exposure is, as you said, a little hot. For future reference, when I'm shooting critters in AV mode (which I often am), I usually have the EV comp backed down about 1/3 of a stop to take care of this exact issue. In this case, it doesn't really looked like anything's really over-exposed...no lost detail I'm seeing, so I'd just back things down a tich in RAW. What bothers me more here though is the his right eye is a little soft...I would have gone for a little more DOF here (smaller aperture).

#2 is really nice...love that expression! I think I might boost the saturation and the contrast just a bit, but otherwise, nice shot.

#3. Again nice expression here, but I think the lighting blows this shot...I'm not sure there's much you could really do with this in pp.

#4. Very nice idea, but I think the focus was just a bit off...the weeds in front of the cat look sharper then his face is. In some other setting you might be able to sharpen this in pp, but with all that detail stuff in the foregound, it would be tedious at best with this shot.

#5. Classic pose...I kind of wish the light was coming more from the front here...those shadows are a little harsh on his body. I think I might play with the Shadows and Recovery sliders a bit in RAW then maybe play with the saturation and contrast a bit. Just a suggestion, but next time maybe try to keep the sun over and behind your shoulder...here it looks more like it was about 90 degrees to the subject (side lit). I think nice frontal lighting would have worked much better here.

#6. I agree with Flyphotog on the issue of the crop here...I'd definitely take it in to a portrait. Again here I'd also boost the contrast but I think I'd take yellow saturation (maybe the green too) down a little.

I know how hard cats can be to work with, so I think you did well here all things considered. I think if you spend a little time with the processing I think you could have some really nice prints.

Just my $.02 worth,
Jim

[0ozma]

Thanks Jim! very helpful. In #1 I used F6.3.... Didn't know that had such a shallow DOF :(

[Walczak Photo]

Thanks Jim! very helpful. In #1 I used F6.3.... Didn't know that had such a shallow DOF :(

One of the common mistakes that many people make is assuming that aperture is the only thing that affects DOF. Other factors also include the distance to the subject, the lens used and the point of focus. Since I don't know what lens you used (and I don't have an EXIF reader hooked up at the moment), my guess would be that one of two things happened here...either (A) You were really close to the cat or (B) You used a fairly long tele to "get in close".

If you want to experiment with something, try this...find an object that is far away and try taking several pictures of it at various apertures. What you will find is that if the object is off in the distance, aperture will basically have no effect on the DOF. I no longer have the pics on a hosting site, but I had done an experiment a while back where I was shooting a draw bridge from a river bank using a nifty-fifty lens. I shot the bridge at f/2.8, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16 and f/22. In all cases, the DOF was the same. Of course as I got to the smaller apertures I did loose a small degree of sharpness, but otherwise, all the shots were pretty equivilant. The reverse is true too...if you are really close to the subject, you will loose DOF regardless of aperture...that's why most macro shots of something small like insects always have such a very limited DOF. Shooting a "close up" from a distance using a long tele will have this same effect.

There is lots of info on this topic on the internet so I won't go into any more details here, but it's something to be aware of for future reference.

Ok...I hope this helps!
Peace,
Jim

[0ozma]

Ah I understand.. thanks. I was using a 70-200L at 140mm as close as I could get to focus and keep his head in-frame.

Here's my attempt at fixing #3... I think it turned out ok.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2995072935_9a9cca4f2d_o.jpg

[0ozma]

Another one I messed around with...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3252/2995107147_41cbc81c48_o.jpg

And a 100% crop of his head from the above:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3056/2995947724_bfd70ff307_o.jpg

[midnitejam]

I like #1 more than the others. The crop and capture places it in a league of its own.
At first glance I thought it was a wahoo bobcat (a Southern species of wildcat) Some people know them as bob cats or lynxes.

One thing is certain--it's a handsome cat.

[0ozma]

thanks :)

[Walczak Photo]

Another one I messed around with...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3252/2995107147_41cbc81c48_o.jpg

And a 100% crop of his head from the above:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3056/2995947724_bfd70ff307_o.jpg


I love the color, saturation and contrast on these (although admittedly I'm a bit heavy handed there myself) but the crop of the face is distracting. The very first thing here to me is that it looks like the cats left eye (image right) is over-sharpened (as do the ears and most of the left side of his face) and the cat's right eye (image left) is under-sharpened...very very distracting. I'm not sure if you did any additional sharpening on this image, but it just doesn't look right to me.

You're rework of the third shot does look better, but at the risk of sounding rude, I'd really just give up on that one and try it again another day.

Peace,
Jim

[0ozma]

Thanks! I agree it is very over sharpened in most of the image (I think i bumped it up well over 50%).... first couple times messing with PP sharpening though so I wont make that mistake again.... appreciate the comments.

[Sk8Dime]

As for the framed gift idea. If the person knows the cat take num. 6 or the side profile, if they dont know the cat go with num. 3.