Here kitty, kitty, kitty

[jetrim]

As you may have suspected from my earlier post (watch the birdie) the little guy and I headed back out to the Big Cypress preserve (Everglades) again today. We stopped at a tourist trap kind of zoo run by the Mikasuki Indians.

A couple of "through the cage" shots of the highly endangered Florida Panther

[GB1]

Jetrim -

It's a worthy subject, I think. But seeing a lot of your work here, the execution isn't quite up to your standards.

I like the composition of the bottom shot but feel that the DOF is probably too shallow for it to work (it could also have some camera shake). I know it's often impossible to use a tripod but this shot begs for one. In the upper shot, the cat's head is simply too dark. Fill flash would be better than not here. The background is also too distracting with the dark and yellow areas, and the shot is soft.

There's often limitations on what you can do in low light situations. I find it's better to up the ISO higher than you normally would and accept some grain than get blur or too little DOF for the shot to work.

Hope this helps - GB

[jetrim]

GB You aren't really saying too much that I guess I already knew. Shot #1 underwent MASSIVE post processing to remove 4 large prominent vertical stripes running across the cat (similar to the diagonal ones in the background but larger). Not being able to get the lens close enough to the cage was a real problem, and a fill flash would have not only amplified it, but probably spooked the cat as well, on the second shot. I have several others, guess I'll see if I can salvage any.

Thanks

[jetrim]

Looking at this again, I think I posted the WRONG shot for # 2 :mad2:
It should have been this one:

[GB1]

Sounds legit. If you removed bars you really did a beck of a lot of PP. The bottom shot is a bit sad because I really like scene and composition but the lack of sharpness and DOF are too much to overcome. I would greatly prefer that the focal pt was on the cat's eyes rather than his nose btw. Not that for shots through bars and glass it is much better to turn off your AF as it will usually hurt you more than help you.

I actually like the original post better. This one looks very processed and bright around the nose. I tried sharpening the orig. but it's just outside the correctly threshold. Seeing how it can't be saved as a conventional shot, I tried a local equalization effect on it - what do you think?

G

[jetrim]

I like the effect of local equalization, as an "artsy" take on the subject. Actually I reprocessed the third shot (w/ sharp eyes) as a B & W and I think that's going to be the keeper. I appreciate your efforts.

[GB1]

Jetrim - I think your edit works. It looks like a large poster type image you would see at a zoo, w/ an abstract twist, that doesn't need to be super sharp

G