Yes, my flat mate colored her rat blue... I'm not a big fan of pet portraiture, but I saw it and thought of this challenge. So I gave this rat, skettle (aka skelletor) a shot under the lights. She seemed to be cut out for the ratwalk! To my surprise she sat perfectly still. I think she liked the warmth. I had a few photos that came out a little better, but I really liked this pose. It kinda fit the look of the rat...
Anyhoo. Did a little levels, curves, dodge/burn, USM and a bit of cloning to get rid of some water specks on the paper shes sitting on.
Statistics
Place: 236 out of 378 Avg (all users): 5.2868 Avg (commenters): 5.7273 Avg (participants): 5.0597 Avg (non-participants): 5.5191 Views since voting: 794 Views during voting: 339 Votes: 265 Comments: 14 Favorites: 0
Aw are those veins? I had pet mice and I think later on in their lives when they became sick I could see their veins. I hope everything is alright. Very adorable picture and good focus. A little bit of detail is lost in the face but I feel that overall it does not negatively impact the image.
4 - Good potential. Saturation/contrast/something seems too 'pushed' and the red background not complementing the rat as well as another color likely would have. Not sure if you dye him/her, but there is blue markings on the white - hm.. which would explain your title, which I thought was because of the pose... Will be back PC to see exactly what you used to dye / tint this creature with.
Cute little pose. I find the carrot distracting but I suppose you had the grab his attention. I probably would have gone with a less overpowering background too.
Wow, you captured me in the morning! Made me smile. I think I might have cropped out the carrot area....but, then again.....hey, it seems to give an interesting composition.
The pose with the rat appearing to hold it's hand to the forehead like a "woe is me" really adds visual interest to the shot. Great capture of the moment that is quickly gone. Now to the other aspects of thise shot. The light source is off to the right of the rat which causes a hard shadow to fall on portions of it's face and cast a shadow on the red wall. Two light sources angled on opposite sides at a 45 degree angle would help lessen the impact of the shadows not to mention bring out the details & color on the snout that are lost in the shadows. Next there is an odd bluish tone in the white of the fur. I have heard of some rodents having a blue sheen to their coats due to the genetics so I am going to take the approach that is what I am seeing here. BUT, if the rat does not naturally have that blue sheen then you might want to fiddle with PS to see about getting it out or check the white balance of your camera. The carrot off to the left adds nothing to the camera. It serves as a distraction taking attention away from your main focus. Not to mention that the carrot looks less than appealing for it looks like it is 3 days or more old rather than fresh. I would recommend cropping the left third out of the picture entirely. A tight square focus would keep the attention on the pet rat not to mention play to the title of feeling blue because the rat is feeling "boxed in".
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
