My Frequent Model

[Churchwolf]

This little homeless cat lives downstairs at our HDB and has become my tireless model for testing out new lenses and equipment. She is unsually docile for a stray cat and seems to get along very well with all the shop keepers who feed her constantly.

At any rate, it can be difficult to get an animal to look directly into the lens and I was fortunate to capture this shot out of the twenty others where she had her eyes closed (she loves sleeping in this heat).

This picture was captured without a tripod using the following:

Nikon D60, 18-200mm VR2 at 200mm, f/5.6, ISO400.

Minimal post processing for white balance and contrast was done in LightRoom 1.4.
Minor cropping was done in PhotoShop CS3.

Thanks for viewing!

[HTCahHTC]

i like how the eyes is looking at the viewer. maybe you can try a tighter crop?

[Churchwolf]

Originally Posted by HTCahHTC i like how the eyes is looking at the viewer. maybe you can try a tighter crop?

I will give it a try. I was a little worried about making the image feel "trapped". I'll see how it turns out. Thanks!

[sprintist]

Nice pic!!

looks so laid back and relaxed. everything looks great, perhaps alittle more positioning of the cat to the right giving more space on the left. Nevertheless i think this picture is complete

[nmk]

Not sure which focal length was used for this image but the perspective seems to be off (the head looks too big compared to what is behind it, which would happen if you shot this at at a wideangle length). You might want to back away and zoom in and get a flatter perspective.

[Churchwolf]

Originally Posted by sprintist Nice pic!! looks so laid back and relaxed. everything looks great, perhaps alittle more positioning of the cat to the right giving more space on the left. Nevertheless i think this picture is complete

Thanks for the positive feedback! I do agree with you that animals need "room to move" in the frame. Will try and not frame it quite so tight next time.

Originally Posted by nmk Not sure which focal length was used for this image but the perspective seems to be off (the head looks too big compared to what is behind it, which would happen if you shot this at at a wideangle length). You might want to back away and zoom in and get a flatter perspective.

As the EXIF data for the image says, this was shot at 200mm (the maximum focal lenght available for that lens), so I'm not really sure how much more I can zoom in? The cat does have a tendancy to "flatten" its back when it's lying there, so perhaps that is what is making it look like that?

[calebk]

Originally Posted by nmk Not sure which focal length was used for this image but the perspective seems to be off (the head looks too big compared to what is behind it, which would happen if you shot this at at a wideangle length). You might want to back away and zoom in and get a flatter perspective.

Think it looks fine. Not sure about what you're referring to because the perspective looks plenty flattering to me. This was already shot at 200mm, according to TS' exif data.

[dingzyangz]

nice pic.

the cat is laid back maybe becos it was just sterilized by SPCA. lol... noticed the cropped ear. hehe.

[Azure]

I rarely post in CC.... but....

This is a well done pic of a stray. Not only have you captured the eyes in focus, you have also managed to control your DOF well enough to give a pleasing touch to the rest of the pic.

I won't worry or bother about a closer crop, as this just happens to be one of the instances where a centre-framed cat face is just fine. The picture has a sense of place, and space. And you caught the boy with his attention focused on you... probably perturbed by "what's that black tube pointing in my face".

[Elgaris]

Good photograph

[Churchwolf]

Originally Posted by Azure I rarely post in CC.... but.... This is a well done pic of a stray. Not only have you captured the eyes in focus, you have also managed to control your DOF well enough to give a pleasing touch to the rest of the pic. I won't worry or bother about a closer crop, as this just happens to be one of the instances where a centre-framed cat face is just fine. The picture has a sense of place, and space. And you caught the boy with his attention focused on you... probably perturbed by "what's that black tube pointing in my face".

Thanks Azure for the supportive comments! I do feel that the zoom on the lens made this particular image significantly easier to capture. I think I would have had a rather harder time with my 50mm prime... And now that you have brought this up, I do wonder what goes through a cat's head when it sees someone pointing a big black tube at it...perhaps it was silently hoping some manner of food would result?

Originally Posted by Elgaris Good photograph

Thanks Elgaris, I appreciate it.

[raptor84]

I guess personally I would have gone with a slighty tighter crop putting the cats face towards the right side of the frame but i guess this works too. The eye contact does work very well for this one and draws you in nicely.

[Churchwolf]

Originally Posted by raptor84 I guess personally I would have gone with a slighty tighter crop putting the cats face towards the right side of the frame but i guess this works too. The eye contact does work very well for this one and draws you in nicely.

Thanks for the positive comments! I actually played with tighter cropping a bit, but had trouble creating the effect that I wanted without making the pic seem too "empty". I guess that's where personal preference comes in...