The cat

[WeirdPICS]

Ok , how is this picture?

What could I have done to improve it?

[IMG][/IMG]

Subject is my Mom's cat...which used to be mine

[Greg McCary]

I might would add a touch of contrast.
Greg

[Xia_Ke]

Beautiful looking cat. I might experiment with cropping this shot a bit. I find the background to the right and the sharp lines in the lower right of the picture draw away from the cat.

[WeirdPICS]

Thanks for the input.

[Christian Simpson]

i think it'd be cool if you put color in the eyes and cropped in closer on the cat, also the contrast tip is a good idea....

[M_Young]

I like the composition of object and background but I definite will crop more to the right to focus the object.

[GB1]

Great shot of the cat, but I don't like the surroundings at all. She or he is also backlit against the lit window so that normally causes your subject to be too dark. But it doesn't seem like it was ruined here, probably because there wasnt that much light coming through.

The cat's expression is one of curiosity, concern, and possible aggression. I'd hate to be a mouse looking at this kitty.........

GB

[WeirdPICS]

As far as the surroundings I didn't have choice, and the only way I could control the light was move the blinds pointing up, which seemed to have helped..

The cat is actually very harmless. I think he looks like Cat President.

Anyway..here is a cropped, sharpened, and saturated pic
I hope it's better..althought I like the softer look more I think?

[Mr Yuck]

good improvement. For the original shot, I would have recommended moving that chair in the background if the cat had to be in that position. Knowing cats, he'd probably bolt, so this might be out of the question. Gotta watch backgrounds.

Beautiful cat btw.

Also, as Christian Simpson said, if you have a color version, make the eyes into seperate layers in a photo editor and convert the rest to black and white. (if you dont have a decent photo editor yet, try Gimp, it's free)

[MarcusK]

or simply select the eyes, select inverse and de-saturate.... always keep an original if you are not shooting RAW which btw, (for those who don't know) does not shoot in b&w in camera...

Anyway, i definitely prefer the second composition, the crop is better, but as matter of softness, i would go somewhere in between the original and the second, the softer look, is less harsh indeed...

Since it used to be your cat , then why not try form different angles and positions.. I know about pets, and i know how annoying they can get when you are tryig to take their pictures.... With cats its usually a little easier than dogs, specially 2 super-hyper-active Pinschers...

I suggest experimenting with the cat... and keep in mind all of the comments so far, which i agree with...

good effort though, and welcome aboard.... (i haven't said it earlier.... )

Marc

[WeirdPICS]

Thanks!

I'll definately try something with the eyes