Peek a boo cat.. by ctfchallenge


01-MAY-2007	Troy Jones

CRW_4957A2.jpg

Update. Thanks to Rod and CJ. PP as suggested.
Updated. Experimented with suggestions. Thanks everyone (even COA...)

Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel
1/200s f/2.0 at 30.0mm iso200 hide exif

other sizes: small medium original auto

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Rod		04-May-2007 10:52
Yes Brent's correct, you will find your own way to get what looks good for you after trying the differing options we throw up. Canon recommends a 300....3....0 unsharp mask for the average shot which I used to do in three stages but now I have a great sharpening action written by someone here called Omni something, it just sharpens the sharper edges in the shots so it normally leaves the sky alone. It sharpens at 134....7.....0 which I do to the high res shot & after resizing down for posting here I run it again at 100....3......0. Time will take care of the learning curve:-)

Brent		03-May-2007 23:05
This is looking even better Troy. If you have Photoshop, maybe I could make a couple of suggestions? I think two easy steps will help this. Go to- Image>Adjustments and select the "Auto" feature for both Color and Curves. If you have settings for these tools on the Photoshop defaults I would expect you will find better color displayed to make the cat look more natural and isolate it from the surroundings. There are fancier things you can do with Curves, but I find usually AutoCurves gets me pretty close to what I want. Always keep in mind that if you try a suggestion and don't like the result, don't hesitate to sy so. There are so many different ways to use Photoshop, and what looks good to one might not look good to another. Nobody will be offended if you tell them their workflow didn't work for you :-)

aam1234		03-May-2007 15:32
Ma mate Rod, don't make it sound too difficult to our new friend Troy, what you suggested is somewhat advanced (at least to me). All my photos are done with basic PP during Raw conversion (Sat./Sharpening/levels), that's really all one needs to start with.

sue anne		03-May-2007 12:34
Very nice looking thru the green leaves to a cat :)

Rod		03-May-2007 07:38
That's a lot better Troy,well done. Remember when you're processing your picys that different picys can need more or less of what we have suggested. Some shots look great with just a plus 2 contrast & minus 2 brightness & less sharpening than I suggested so just try & do what looks good to your eye for each different shot. Also have a play with the burning & dodging tools on the floating tools bar on the upper left. The burn tool (for darkening) is a hand & when you press the alt key & left click it will change to a sponge tool (for adding saturation or desaturating) & then to a lollipop looking thingy which is for dodging (lightening) So you can lighten or darken different parts of the picy. I have the in camera settings on low so my picys out of the camera are quite soft & lacking contrast but doing the things we have suggested here they turn into magnificent works of ahrt:-).......................well my missus thinks so:-)

ctfchallenge		03-May-2007 05:54
Now this shot Troy is framed well and you captured the eyes very well which is important to me. My favorite of the three. -COAmature

Guest		03-May-2007 03:17
Thank you Rod and CJ for the tips. Looks much better! I do have PS.

ctfchallenge		02-May-2007 23:10
Very cute cat shot Troy and good framing. This could probably be cropped tighter as there is lots of greenery around the subject, but I'm not sure - did you try it? Almost every picture taken with a DSLR needs PP and everyone has their own way of processing their pictures. They usually follow a workflow of maybe, cropping, levels, shadow/highlight, brightness, contrast and unsharp mask (USM). There are variations in the frequency and order of these steps but usually USM is last. There are a lot of people here willing to help so don't be afraid to ask here or in the Canon Forums or the Retouching Forum. Happy Shooting! :-) CJ

Rod		02-May-2007 19:46
If you have these tools like in PS then an Unsharp mask (you can use a setting up to about 300....3.....0) Normally done in a few stages. I normally open my picy & give it say 100....3....0 then do some processing & just before resizing give it another 100....3.....0. Resize for posting here & then give it another 100....3....0. These sharpening figures are towards the maximum so if the shot looks OK you can miss some one or two of these sharpenings. I think the minimum processing needed on a shot is the unsharp mask & try the brightness & contrast tool set to about Plus 8 contrast & minus 8 Brightness. Later when you get into it you can play around with the Curves tool where I do most of my touching up. Feel free to ask any questions Troy:-)

Guest		02-May-2007 12:45
Rod, As you can tell I am not a professional photographer and can use constructive comments and suggestions. What PP would you suggest to make it more pleasant to view? Thanks

Rod		02-May-2007 10:38
With no PP you will end up with shots like this, so I do recommend you do some PP to make your shots more pleasant to view. Very wise of you to avoid the filters though.

aam1234		02-May-2007 04:27
Like the cat's green eyes matching the surroundings. Well framed.

Brent		01-May-2007 23:06
I like the way you have threaded through to your subject and really isolated it here Troy. Very nice work. You know I wouldn't necessarily shy away from basic PP work here. Especially when shooting with a DSLR that doesn't flavor the output too strongly a little sharpening and curve adjustment can be very helpful to make an image pop. I don't think I've ever submitted an image here without at least those basics- I just try not to be heavy handed with what I do. You got a nice result here for no PP :-)

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