My Cashmere Kitty

Opinions? Please ignore watermarks... I posted these on another website and put them there a while back.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Seriously people? Not a SINGLE comment? Do they suck THAT bad?
Maybe some info might give someone to comment about...
Photo 1
f/4.5
1/50
1000
focal length 70mm

Photo 2
f/4
1/25
500
focal length 70mm

Adorable looking kitty! I'm owned by two cats myself.

1) it's ok but you cut off an ear. Would work better for me in a more square crop to eliminate the dead space bottom left.

2) Judging by the info you posted, you're shooting too slow for the given focal length and as such, it suffers noticeably from camera shake and/or it's just plain oof. Nice colorful background though. Again, really sweet face!

thank you... finally something I can learn from!

In general, I do not like images that obviously have the camera tilted - especially when there is a reference to a natural horizontal or vertical plane in the image. I see so many automobile photos with a wierd tilt to them, and dislike almost all of them for that very reason.

To me, the only reason to use a tilted camera in creating a composition is when it really does something positive for the image. In my opinion, 99% of the tilted images I see would be better with the camera held in a more natural position.

You might benefit from using bounced flash to get the light level up enough to get a better depth of field (in other words, using a smaller aperture or larger f-stop number) while letting the flash "stop" any motion of the camera or subject. Direct flash doesn't look good for shots like these, but if you could bounce the flash off a nearby white wall or ceiling you'd have nice soft lighting that didn't look like an on-camera flash.

With the technical stuff said, I really like your kitty.

I would prefer to see the whole of your gorgeous kitty in the frame.
Have to agree with the angle shot it would look nicer and more natural if up was up!
2nd shot looks to have been suffering with camera shake due to the slow shutter, maybe a higher ISO or more light would help there.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone... those are the kinds of comments I like. The ones I can learn from. I actually took these the very first day I had my 40D and had never shot an SLR at all before. Manual mode was TOTALLY new. Taking these was as much a part of my learning experience as posting them here to get the feedback. The angle.. I just got to playing.... probably more out of excitement than really trying to take a picture. I will definately keep my angles to a minimum. But I do have a question... is there anytime when it's considered OK to shoot at angles? I really do like some photos that way.

f8ed4photography wrote in post #4465924
But I do have a question... is there anytime when it's considered OK to shoot at angles? I really do like some photos that way.

My opinion is that angled shots should not have any reference to real-world position. In other words - if there are utility poles, buildings, and the like in the shot - don't twist the camera to odd angles.

Many people do what they like and beat my "rule" to shreds and that's fine for them. I just don't like the results 99+% of the time.

I will try to keep your rule in mind... but I still admit that I sometimes like the angles. Thanks much Skip.