We have three cats ranging in age from 7 to 14. I have great pics of two of my cats (hairball and little one) but only deent snapshots of the third (black cat - real creative names I know). The other two are just more photogenic. The morning of this challenge being announced I was about to set up a shot using on of my table lamps as the subject when I looked out on our back porch. Black cat was lying on our bench and it just hit me right there. I took a piece of black velvet outisde and had him sit on it. He then proceeded to clean himself for the next 5 minutes as I tried to take his picture. Most every shot shot came out blurry with a poor perspective. He wasnt very cooperative. This was basically the only shot that came out even close to being interesting and clean. And huge thanks to Jemison and the Flight picture and thread on how that was edited. Had I not read that thread and seen the original there is no way I would have spent anytime on this shot in postprocess. I would have chucked it along with all the rest. (This is not saying that my black cat picture is anywhere near the quality of "Flight" - just that I am starting to see what might actually be in a picture before processing). This is now probably my favorite picture that I have of any of our cats - and with him being the 14yr old you just never know how much longer you may have them for.
Post process - crop, levels, lightening, minor cloning, dodging and burning around whiskers and eyes, USM, saturated eyes, crop, border, save for web. Note - I can still see a reddish tint in both the right ear and on his back.
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Post Challenge - You have no idea how happy I am about this score and placing. Many o fthe shots I have taken for these challenges have been fun but there would be no reason for me to ever take any of them let alone coming up with the idea. This one is not one of them. It is this site that has taught me what I know to allow me to take and process a shot like this. This is my favorite cat of the three we have and he now rests as my fifth highest rated pic in my portfolio and the fifth place means I will see his name in my profile forever and ever. Thank you everyone for your votes and comments.
Oh yeah - The only pic in top ten to have significant color - yeah baby!!!
Statistics
Place: 5 out of 263 Avg (all users): 6.5687 Avg (commenters): 7.7500 Avg (participants): 6.2771 Avg (non-participants): 6.7039 Views since voting: 5188 Views during voting: 450 Votes: 262 Comments: 45 Favorites: 4 (view)
I can NOT photograph my black cat...at all!!!!!!!! He won't pose and he's so black, all contrast is GONE! This is GREAT! LOVE IT! Guess I need to get some back velvet!
This is just amazing and would be one of the very best cat images I have ever seen.....
The lighting is just perfect..... I also love the cats gold shiny eyes.....
Awwww. ..I used to have a cat that looked just like her!!! I love this photo. Isn't it awesome to know a photo that means so much to you is going to be smiling at you every time you go to your profile? Congratulations. This is an awesome image!!!!!
Great picture, Tim. I was fond of this in the challenge for obvious reasons (I'm a cat person who also likes dogs) but this one has a particular sweetness to it. Congrats on the pic, and the placing!
Great texture & lighting. Saturation may be a bit overdone, but the image stopped me in my tracks. First time comment. Cats are not easy subjects, especially black cats. Congrats.
This is fantastic. Unlike those other horrible people, I love cats and cat pictures. I'm also a big fan of high contrast images. Such a pretty kitty! Very nice composition as well.
awesome!! loved her eyes... I m not a professional photographer, so cant really comment much on lighting or anything, but the subject and composition is astounding!!
Very nice attempt at animal portraiture. The lighting would have been better with maybe a stronger light around the upper edge where the ears are. Without knowing the best light set up I can't say how you could have gotten a stronger rim around the edge of the cats body, but I am sure somebody here knows what you need to do.
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