Domino the cat!

[wadey1982]

Camera Canon 400D 17-85mm IS USM,
Sorry I don't have the camera settings at hand.

I find pets and animals in general extremely hard to photograph as it's difficult to capture their personality in a photo. I turned this photo in B&W as black cats are hard with exposure, do you think it works in B&W and should it be cropped? any comment are much appreciated

[BryanPanting]

I think its a great shot. Wish the top of the ear was not clipped off, but that could be fixed in PS. Nice Job.

[RLucas]

I know what you mean. All of our animals seem to know when the camera is out, and basically go blank when they see it. lol! I find that more often than not, I have to stalk them to get them at their best.

As far as exposure is concerned, This photo looks great! If you want to be more consistant with it, use spot metering, and expose at about 1 stop below 0. It will true the blacks up a bit, and give you a more accurate exposure. Blacks and whites tend to trick the meter, and it will under or overexpose to a degree usually. If you let the meter do it for you, whites will usually end up gray with an underexposed image, and blacks will usually end up grey with an overexposed image. This is one of those cases you are better off by metering manually.