photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Digital Photography Forum | all galleries >> DPF: Over the Years >> Other Archives >> Critique > edit image
previous | next
27-NOV-2011 Dave Churchill

Burleigh

USA

Burleigh the Cat

Canon EOS 30D ,Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
1/60s f/18.0 at 92.0mm iso400 full exif

other sizes: small medium large auto
previous | next
Doug 30-Dec-2011 17:01
Thank you for sharing your shot of Burleigh.

Beautiful cat. The detail in Burleigh is stupendous in my opinion!

This is not a reflection on any other comment but I am neither a cat person nor a dog person. I am an "animal person". That is to say, I like all animals and do not favor any over another.

Critique:

I just finished viewing the available EXIF data and see that no flash was used which leads me to believe that maybe the cat was lit from above by a table lamp or some other form of artificial light. I agree with the others with regard to the aperture you used. It's quite small for your available lighting. Opening it up (smaller number = larger aperture) you would have decreased your DOF (Depth Of Field) making it shallower and blurring your background even further.

I think Liz's advice regarding the direction that Burleigh is looking is great, too.

My 2¢:

- Larger aperture for a shallower depth of field and faster shutter speed (I have found that animals rarely remain still for any given length of time).

- Also, try more of an upshot and getting closer to get a ubiquitous (and more straight on) gaze from Burleigh, to fill more of your composition with the cat and to also eliminate the background.
Stacey Nagy 24-Dec-2011 00:08
The focus all seems fine to me. I would have wanted to see mor of the whiskers. Also, maybe a tighter crop, to eliminate some of the background. And bumping up the contast a little, could maybe blacken out or at least darken the rest of the background. As far as the glints, I would either get rid of the exisiting glint altogether and either go with no glints, or add glints in both eyes a little farther down the eyeball. I like the shot though!
Clay Swatzell 23-Dec-2011 20:47
I would take a bit of a different approach to the DOF. I think you have a bit too much (f/18) . Maybe f/5.6-8. I am more interested in the face rather than the fur on the cat's body. Also the wider aperture may lend to blurring the busy background a bit more which I think detracts from the cat's face.

I am also like Liz, I think the crop is a bit off. You have the fur on the left side of the photo at the edge with negative space above the cat's head. Since you have a tight crop to the left and bottom, I would tighten the crop a bit more at the top and righ.
Digital Photography Forum23-Dec-2011 20:17
I feel this portrait would be more pleasing if you had gotten better eye contact (or at least a gaze that has direction).
The eyes and chin tilted downward - in this case - take away from the appeal of this lovely animal. The chin is too close to the bottom of the frame. The composition would have also been better if you had not cut off the whiskers where you did due to the chin being too close to the bottom edge of the image. That makes the shot feel disjointed. The shadow under the chin also somewhat bothers me with everything being pooled at the bottom edge of the frame.
In a tight crop, such as this, you should have equal top and bottom space. So a little less room above his ears and a little more room under his chin might help.

On the plus side, the eyes have good focus. A large part of animal photography is about the eyes. Because you asked about the glint, I would remove the hint of highlight from the right eye; rather than add an artificial highlight to the left. No, the soft body fur is not a problem. It actually accentuates the face. You have the face in clear focus, and that is where you want your viewer attention to go. A little less room at the top of this specific image would have helped to draw the viewer's attention to the expression in Burleigh's eyes

Burleigh is a beautiful cat. "Expression" is a large part of animal, portrait photography. Your crop in this image takes away from that.
Burleigh does not have to be looking directly into the camera. However, his gaze should draw your viewer into the image.

Liz
Digital Photography Forum23-Dec-2011 20:16
Beautiful Cat. I am more of a dog lover (even though the ONLY pet I've had was a cat - don't ask...). But that is a beautiful animal.

As for the criticism: I have no problem with the fur being slightly out of focus. I think that is good. The background should be cleared of distracting objects. I'm not a fan of direct flash. But that's my personal preference. Since you own one of the more modern DSLR, you should be able to shoot indoors with NO flash. Window lights are great but animals never cooperates so that may or may not work. I noticed that you used F18 - that's really closed down. You might try opening up the aperture so the flash become just a fill-flash (touch of flash) so the lighting will be softer.

Softer light = pleasing light.

As for the "glint", the existing glint is on the edge of the eye, so the other eye covered it. Placing an artificial glint on the other eye would make it indeed look fake. But you can either erase the current glint and place 2 glint else where (balanced to look real), OR just place 2 glints else where on the eye. It will look like there was second source of flash.

But I'm not saying it is not a good picture. I like the picture. The things above are the things I would try / experiment with.

Jong
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment