So yes, I know this has very few, if any, "DPC friendly" qualities.
Let's see... first off, it's a cat. Never a good plan. Next - blown highlights? Heck, the whole chest is overexposed. (I tried to get him to put on a shirt, but noooo.... Well, that and I was holding a desk lamp about a foot away from him.) Busy, distracting background and foreground elements - check. Stray annoying things like cat hair and odd reflections - check (I did wipe down the table first, but I had no better luck getting rid of the cat hair than I did the reflections.) High ISO with grain - check. The camera was on a tripod underneath the table and triggered with a remote so I missed out on the camera shake (which, by the way, I'm very good at. Getting it to shake, that is.)
The glass is clear but I'm betting it's not clearly the subject to some, hence the challenge tie-in may be sketchy. I really was shooting specifically for Glass II (with a twist). Hey, I just noticed the table has a twisty metal part!
So, you say, "What were you thinking? Why, if you knew this would score poorly, did you enter it?" Why did I enter this? Because quite frankly it cracks me up. I expect this to be a challenge with a whole lot of very good pictures, so I'm hoping that while folks are voting on all those really good pictures, they'll come to this one and smile or possibly even chuckle before they click the "4" and move on. Sometimes you just gotta have fun!!
Post processing - cropped, but left in at least big parts of the annoying stuff; desaturated everything 100% except yellow, which was desaturated about 50%; levels, USM, resize. Voila!
I still absolutely love this shot. :-)
Statistics
Place: 105 out of 258 Avg (all users): 5.2536 Avg (commenters): 7.2941 Avg (participants): 5.1505 Avg (non-participants): 5.3048 Views since voting: 3355 Views during voting: 416 Votes: 280 Comments: 42 Favorites: 11 (view)
its strange how this could get such an ordinary vote yet have 11 ppl make it a favourite .
sort'v doesnt make sense .. it really is such a great shot .. i think the voters judge on technicalities rather than the big picture .. i loved reading all the reasons you thought this wouldnt be dpc friendly .. and it appears you were right .. but i'm glad you put it in anyway .. anyone looking at this photo would forget their woes even for a brief time .. wonderful .. :)
I absolutely adore this image as well. I think it's even quirkier (and even cattier) than your recent ribbon winner. I think people with cats can relate...
this DID make me grin - no idea why. Maybe I'm just in a good mood! :) It's such an unusual point of view... and I actually like the blown-out higlights!
I read your comments...and the list of criticisms you levied on yourself, to which I say...yep, yep, yep, yep and yep to all the technical deficiencies. But this photo isn't really about technique...otherwise the cat would have been wearing a shirt. ;-)
On the other hand, you have "perspective" nailed, humor elevated, and (of course) there is the matter of that twisted metal. Most important..."no animals were harmed during the making of this photo"...and all of that means this photo is worth at least a 6 or 7.
A flower and a cat on consecutive entries! :-o How unlike you! hehe
Not bad for a having-a-laugh entry, and certainly a good idea. I have to admit I don't like the distracting elements of the composition, although I expect some are needed to give context to the cat. I don't mind the blown highlights immediately, but after a couple of minutes the chest is a little overpowering :P
I do, however, really like the high-key effect on the face (especially with subtly coloured eyes, but because of the composition this doesn't leap out at you.
I admire your courage for entering a cat photo! j/k, but I do genuinely respect the attitude of not worrying about scores all the time. Reading through the during-challenge comments, it seems as though it certainly went down well. Heck, I'm chuffed if I get favourites on the best of my entries lol. Keep having fun, I say (but don't stop the awesome studies I love so much!)
Trading Post -
I stil lstand by my original comments but figured I would let you know that I scored this a 7 in challenge. The perspective and humor bumped it past the technical issues that the shot may have had. Me personally I like a good cat shot.
I like the different perspective here, due to your PoV. Allthough the whites are over exposed, the image is just very funny & yes, it made me chuckle :D
Hehe, this reminds me of when my former cat Scout was a very mischievous kitten. I used to come home from work every day to find several blank scans had been made with my scanner. It was totally perplexing until I figured out that Scout would get up there to look out the office window. So I started leaving the lid up, and started coming home to scans of orange tabby cat butts, one of which I made into my Livejournal icon for awhile. I still have the series stashed somewhere on my harddrive. Anyway, I gave this an 8. :D
I was one of your 10's too! I thought any technical flaws were more than made up for in creativity, overall "cool" factor and my "I just love this" factor :)
Trading Post...
I voted this a 9. I absolutely loved it. The blown white actually works here. And the photo itself is just so true to life. It's funny yet poignant at the same time. Keep up the great work. Your photo's almost always seem to click with me.
Don't know how I missed commenting this. Despite the problems you mentioned in your comments, I actually liked this one. Looks like the cat's been caught in headlights :) Good show!
I was one of your 10s. I don't care what your detractors say or even what you say. The composition is fantastic. It truly is reminiscent of Man Ray's work.
I like the idea of this shot and think it has greater potential than what we have here. Good/interesting angle. I like the curves of the frame. But the cat seems a bit blown out in the face and chest and you lost some detail there. Don't like the pesky lamp in the background, but what are you gonna do. ;)
This was a very good idea. I love the cat. Only a 6 from me though because the lighting is a tad strong and washes out the cats chest a little. I also think you would have scored higher if you removed the lamp that clutters the background. Fun perspective on the cat though and a nice creative idea.
Pretty darn cool. I think the lamp shade in the background is an unnecessary distracting element (and perhaps the steel pole across the top right). Also the cat is a little over-blown (only a touch though). Otherwise the shot is fantastic - such character and such an interesting pose.
Ok. . .I've decided: This one needs to be a ribbon winner! This is so creative and cute! There are way way toooooooo many photos of glass figurines here! But this one is refreshing, awesome, and I hope it is getting top votes!!!
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