My best friend

I am just getting into using my manual setting .. (pats herself on the back for taking the leap ) .. and then just bought a new tripod yesterday ...

not sure if I have altered it right .. but what do you think first of the actual photo .. ie I think the lightening was off totally .. ISO 100, AV 8.0, TV 0.4, focal length 50mm and auto white balance.

first is un-altered cept for sizing for forum, second is altered by slightly adjusting the brightness, contrast and then just using the dodge & burn around the two.

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nah, don't burn too close, or it will be a floating head

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I like the first one better...I wish the cat wasn't blocking part of his face. That is distracting to me and the first thing that I notice.

never thought of having his face shown 100% .. and I agree .. this was a second picture I put up on the editing as the burn did look like this head was floating lol

one thing .. I still found was even though i was using a tripod .. i got blurs on some of the photos .. not sure why though ?

I don't mind kitty that way. It adds perspective and adds to the story of the picture.
I used to cuddle up with my cat like that too when I was that age. The picture looks natural and unforced.

....well...except for kitty. He doesn't seem to be enjoying himself.

the cat was fine .. as you can see about 2 mins later he was sleeping ie last photo .. they really do get on great:}

I wasnt really positioning the "pose" I was more playing with taking a photo in manual and getting all the things right ie shutter speed, etc .. and the only thing i didnt go was the white balance which as on auto .. I didnt want to complicate things for myself :}
.... sheesh setting up a tripod was bad enough

the first photo in this was from the same photo's (I did so many and not many were that good due to getting stuff wrong - trial and error I am realising is 100 photo's and maybe one good one)

these are totally untouched again cept for resizing


btw .. didnt know if this was people or animals which I should ahve put this in .. and its getting more animals .. so sorry if its in the wrong place .. but still would love comments :}

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That cat is enormous.

Does the tripod have a tilt function? Some slight angles make pictures like this more interesting.
Not too little. It will look like "that crooked picture".
Not so much that you need to tilt your head and think "Which way is up?".

Try to follow (or oppose) the natural lines in the background, or the subject.

I don't like how you burned the image that much. I wouldn't burn it at all(as far as getting rid of the sofa). I think the sofa helps support the picture.

I read you are suppose to get as close as you can to the subject, focus on the eyes and then follow the rules of straight lines ..

not sure what you mean ?

and i think I agree the more I look .. altering pictures have their place :}

k back to the drawing board again - thank you for the comments ..

I think it'd be better if the boy were to the left of the frame. He's looking at something, so he needs some room to look into.

Hope it's ok, but here's my rendition... see how his jacket still has defninition? He doesn't look like he's floating as bad... aslo like gkuenning said he needed to be more to the left... what do you think?

yeap i see what you mean ie positioning .. and yet I will admit if I had looked at that until doomsday I wouldnt have seen that. And I have to say i like the burn process but not sure if it works in this case :}