King on his throne

[hollis]

Yes its a cat picture

AG is a very old cat & he rules the house.
If you don't do what he wants, you'll get a very forceful "Murrr".

He needs the stool to climb up & onto the couch to catnap.
Since I was sitting on said couch,
he sat on the stool & waited for me to move. A stare down ensued.

That was the initial inspiration.
Unfortunately, it looks like he is almost ready to abdicate his throne.
Maybe my personal attachment makes this one emotional?

[Anbesol]

Great subject, the cats posture is very entertaining. Good framing too. Unfortunately the harsh shadows and the ultra dark background are killing it for me, tricky touching up can certainly work around those problems though, fortunately it looks like you havent hit totally black anywhere in the background, so you can bring out those details into midtones. I can show you what I'm talking about if you'd like.

[hollis]

Unfortunately the harsh shadows and the ultra dark background are killing it for me,
I can show you what I'm talking about if you'd like.

Thanks for the C&C

The subject & the arrangement was a quick ad lib.
The black glob on the left is actually a white flower pot
I tried to cover it up with shadows with my meager PS skills.
Part of the problem is when I took the shot, midnight or so.
Tiny lamp in a living room & my 10-17mm lens didnt help either.
How about a version with soft focus? Mmm...nah.
Ok...I'm stepping away from all the shiny photoshop buttons

feel free to edit anyway you'd like, I'll put the original in my gallery

[MB1]

A great pose but the heavy shadow (looks like flash to me) and shallow depth of field seem to hurt the image. I'd like the halo of fur on the cats back and its paws to be in sharp focus-the dark background provides enough seperation so the shallow DoF isn't needed here..

BTW the blur doesn't improve things.

[SmartWombat]

Blur isn't the answer.
My Tess-cat's opinion is "Mreagh" which I take as agreeing with me (if she knows what's good for her).
Carefully clone in some carpet under the table to cover the shadow.
It needs nothing else.

[Lori11]

Awwwww, I love it, hope you got a "series" I like the first one better

[GB1]

This does not look like a cat to me ?

Anyway, the background is a bit non-ideal but considering cats, you got him to pose quite nicely. The blur is a good attempt but I think there's other tricks that may work better : unfortunately I am not sure what they are!

G

[SmartWombat]

feel free to edit anyway you'd like, I'll put the original in my gallery

I didn't spot that first time through.
I think it's been over sharpened, or your cat was recently shampooed and is nice and shiny

You've done a good job on the background in this.

I'm thinking of something radical, perhaps clipping around the lower edge of the stool seat and then moving the stool down over the shadow - rather than trying to fill in the shadow with cloned carpet.