Interrupted

[Andre Pretorius]

Image captured at Emdodeni Cat sanctuary, Hluhluwe. Shot through wire enclosure, could not get lower POV due to shade-cloth on bottom. Light was fading, this young girl was catching the last rays of winter sun.

Nikon D3S, 300 f2,8 VR, handheld.

ISO 1250, 1/800, F5 not to get fence in, low light.

[Stan Cunningham]

I like it Andre. It might have improved it to get lower but we can't have everything we want all the time. The fading light accents her face, and I like to off center position of the cat. Nice job

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andre, I like the framing and the position of the subject within frame, works well. I also like the subject being caught in mid behaviour, adds interest.

Go back into Levels and move the RH slider to the left, say 236 (your call on the final amount) and see how it looks. Yes, there are one or two hotspots, but nothing to worry about, but I would look at the Exposure balance in your conversion. Likewise I would remove the slight blue cast in the tail. Just remember, try to keep from doing large crops, the IQ deteriorates, so best to get as close to framing in camera, where possible, but do leave yourself some room for final framing. Lastly, you might like to crop say half an inch off the top to loose the brighter area top RH corner?

Nice to see you back posting and also to see a different species, look forward to more Andre.

TFS
Steve

PS was this before, or after calibration?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andre - I like the pose and its look toward you. The comp works well. As always, you've gotten some excellent suggestions above. I too see the blue cast by the tail. Looks like you've also got some heat waves in the bg. Might try a slight blur.

TFS,
Rachel

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Andre,

typical pose for cats. See it everyday here in Swissyland in our town

The comp is very nice for the cat and I do love the space around. The blue cast in the tail goes up to the lifted leg as well.
But overall a great image Andre. I like it a lot.
This cat looks like our Noah's arc best friend here

Have a great day

Ciao

Anette

[Andre Pretorius]

Followed advice: Cropped bit tighter from top and bit from underneath to balance. Removed the blue cast from back leg and tail. Blurred top BG a bit more, painted black with softlight @ 8% to darken the hotspots. Did levels as Steve suggested. Finally run High Pass sharpening after resizing.
WDYT?

BTW Steve, where do you alter the exposure balance when converting? (Tiff or JPG?)

Steve, the 300F2.8 was not sent for calibration with the D3S, only the 600f4 and the TC1.4. I have some sunbirds from last Saturday, will PP tomorrow and post, please see what you think

Thank you for all the advise and comments.

Andre

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andre, just viewing on the laptop so will come back later, but initial impression, this looks 'sexy' truck loads better too.

Steve

[Steve Kaluski]

BTW Steve, where do you alter the exposure balance when converting? (Tiff or JPG?)

Andre, the Exposure is the second item you look at to adjust in the RAW, once you do that in a TIFF or JPEG (not ideal) you are then playing with pixels, therefore do as much as you can in RAW, however if you go to the Adjustments window you will find it in the palette of options.

Sorry meant to add:
- Tone down the dark mark by the raised foot
- Tone down lighter patch towards the top RH corner
- Tone down the lighter grass stem by the leg (if in doubt drop me a line)

[Loi Nguyen]

I think the RP looks great. Killer light, very sharp, like the pose. The OOF grass on the LHS is a little distracting, but it is very minor. Loi

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Andre,
like the pose of the subject and the overall image of the RP, nicely done .

Always good to see a different cat .

TFS Andreaas