No. You chose the right one. I like the birds a lot, but the focus is very soft, and, IMO, I don't think it adds to the photo. I liked the cats eyes very much. Perhaps cropping it down to bring the focus more in on the eyes?
Didn't come up for me in voting, but what I noticed first about the cat shot was a background that conflicted with the image. Almost like wide stripes. The details on the cat are a little bright and there are some blown areas.
I had a similar case with my own entry. A bright white bird with lots of feather detail that I wanted to show. A single RAW conversion did not get it all. I did 5 separate exposures and did a false HDR with them, plus a lot of layer work to preserve the detail. Still only came in mid-packish. Freestudies are tough.
I think the technicals on the cat shot are much better so I prefer the cat shot over the birds but with that being said if the exposure was better on the birds especially around the eyes I would prefer the birds mainly because to me cat shots are not real exciting.
i notice on both of them the dof bothered me then i see they are both shot at 2.8, any reason for that? i think what hurt you on the cat shot was the oof areas, but the bird one has the same problem
