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My first upload in the brave new world of V5! Great to be able to see the large version without clicking.
This is Cupid, one of Kita's cats, looking very distinguished, don't you think? It looks like it's selectively coloured but I only made one small change to the colour. He's sitting on a black chair with a white wall behind him but the grey parts of the cushion he's are really red and green so I desaturated them to avoid the distraction.
All comments and criticism welcome.
Dave.
Friday, 9th July, 2010.
50mm, f/3.5, 1/100s, ISO-100.
| Brand: | Canon |
| Camera: | Canon EOS 400D |
| Lens: | Canon 50mm f/1.4 |
| Recording media: | RAW (digital) |
| Focal Length: | 50mm |
| Aperture: | f/3.5 |
| Shutter Speed: | 1/100sec |
| Exposure Comp: | 0.0 |
| ISO: | 100 |
| Metering Mode: | Evaluative |
| Flash: | None |
| Title: | Cupid |
| Username: | 
DRicherby |
| Uploaded: | 20 Jan 2011 - 12:49 PM |
| Tags: | Cat, Marmalade, Orange, Pets / captive animals, Tabby |
| VS Mode Rating |
100 (0% won) These stats show the percentage of wins and the rating score that your photo has achieved. You can go to the VS Mode by clicking on this icon. Signup to e2Signup to e2 to see which photo this has won or lost against in the vs mode |
| Votes: | 72 |
| Modifications Welcome (Upload a Modification) |
Comments
Yes It is great to see it large first time off. The impact is wow!
A wonderful study Dave, great focus on the leading eye and nose, and excellent detail in the fur. He's a real beauty of a cat too! I agree that it's great to see the large version straight away, although it might show up a few of the faults in my shots! I'll need your comments to keep me right! 
Carol
hi ,i get told by judges that i shouldnt have lines leading out of the frame ie the whiskers,and i shouldnt cut of elbowes as you have done ,are these things just individual judges opinions or is there a situation when it is allowable. I am not critcizeing i am asking a question from someone i trust.
Excellent question! I would say that those are both very good guidelines but that, in most photographs, everything's a compromise.
His whiskers stick out a looong way so, if I were to include all of them on the left, there'd be lot of space on that side of the frame with nothing in it but a few whiskers. That, to me, would make the shot feel unbalanced and would mean that he'd be on the right side of the shot, looking right. Also, because the whiskers converge on his nose, for me, they lead into the shot, rather than out of it.
As for the elbows, it does tend to look uncomfortable if, for example, you have somebody standing with their hands on their hips and elbows sticking out, but the elbows are cropped. There, the two lines of the upper and lower arm are converging on a point outside the shot (or very close to the edge) so they lead the eye out. Here, I don't think you have the two lines leading out of shot because they're broken up by the different colours of fur and because the upper leg is mostly hidden under the body. Because of that, I think I can get away with cropping the elbow in this shot; in other scenarios, it could be more of a problem.
I was a little annoyed that his paw is cut off but I think the face is strong enough to hold the viewer's eye in the shot. I had a bunch of other shots taken at the same time, all with their own advantages and disadvantages, but I felt this was the best, overall.
I always stop for kitty cats 
He has a wonderful expression - and yes, the face is strong enough to capture the viewer's eye and hold it there.
(Darn that missing tip of the paw though..........)
I didn't notice the fact that Cupid's whiskers and his elbow had been cut off, however I must admit I did notice the amputation of his paw. Mind you, having said that, I think it is the only fault, if it is indeed a fault, in an otherwise excellent photograph of a cat.
Lovely Cat portrait, i like so much the eyes contact, he looks so tenderly.
regards
Dito
A beautiful portrait Dave with that lovely expression, the green eyes and that one raised ear. (somehow feeling similar to one raised eyebrow!)
Being very critical, the focus looks to have just missed the eye - the suberb detail around the mouse and nose shows that in contrast the detail of the near eye and the fur around it, is good, but not quite as sharp - just enough that extreme fusspots would notice
Tim
Tip top pet portrait.
top tip i would appreciate more focus on eyes, or at list on dominant.
Gorgeous portrait. Very nice creation. And what a smart look!
Regards, Oleg.
Wonderful composition ( like the angle of the pose )great detail too.
Lovely shot, the kind every cat owner would like of their cats.
Nice one
Rick
Lovely portrait, the light in the eyes reall makes this shot. I might be tempted to darken the highlights just slightly on the whites.
Scott
Hi Dave, not sure what you had in mind here regarding focus, I can see it's selective hence the choice of f/3.5, however as you know this setting gives a very small dof and maybe that's cutting it just a little too fine to get just enough detail where it should be. It looks as though the point of focus is on the nose and whiskers from here as they would be almost on the same plain but the fur is quite soft (maybe that's how you intended it to be and I respect that). This new version of epz doesn't say whether or not this was a converted RAW file but it would have been possible to have retrieved some detail in the whites if it were which look blown and also indicated in the histogram in levels. Overall it's a very pleasing shot of a lovely looking Cat, no offence intended,
Regards,
Geoff.
Great image, nicely composed. Looks like my old moggy when he was a bit younger.
Steve
Regardless of critique, I think it's just magic. Just look at the face - almost sad ! Wonderful shot !
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