contrast cat

[jbessen]

Hi

(This is my first post). Came upon this cat in the Forbidden City in Beijing. It was a bit difficult to adjust the tone curves and color because of the high contrast. Any suggestions?



Camera Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Exposure 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture f/4.5
Focal Length 35 mm
ISO Speed 200

[Eileen D]

Welcome to DPS! It's a great site with lots of wonderful folks to learn from!

The image caught my eye as soon as it came up on the screen because of the white against the red. To my eye, you've done a good job with the color and the contrast, and the shape of the cat's body against the background is quite effective. Two problems for me -- 1) the composition seems a bit out of balance because the cat is facting toward the tighter part of the image (I know, impossible to make the cat turn around to the wonderful details on the right!) and 2) the details of the cat's face aren't clear, not surprising given the combination of soft colors of the animal. Perhaps it's clearer in a larger version?

I very nice first post and I look forward to seeing more of your work!

[sk66]

Very Nice capture!
I'd adjust it with a levels adjustment.
Start with the highlight eye dropper on the cat somewhere, then the dark dropper in a shadow area. Then with the sliders move the blacks triangle towards the right some, the gray triangle towards the left some, and probably need to reduce output white level to around 245....
Play with it a bit and see what you come up with.

[boun]

Colors are great and this contrast is perfect, hard to find it in nature, cats pose is stunning, but I'm not so sure about composition and I find her face a bit blurry
I would love to see it a bit closer

[jbessen]

Eileen D and boun,
Thanks for your comments. On the RAW file zoomed in, the cat's face has somewhat more detail, but then much of the detail in the highlights of the cat's body is lost. When I improved that detail by playing with the tonal curve, it seems I lost a little on the face, especially the parts that were illuminated with reflected light. Maybe this is just the proverbial rock and hard spot. Even then, the detail in the face is not the greatest either because the cat might have moved a little bit and/or my depth of field was small.

[jbessen]

Originally Posted by sk66

Very Nice capture!
I'd adjust it with a levels adjustment.
Start with the highlight eye dropper on the cat somewhere, then the dark dropper in a shadow area. Then with the sliders move the blacks triangle towards the right some, the gray triangle towards the left some, and probably need to reduce output white level to around 245....
Play with it a bit and see what you come up with.

Thanks, but I am not quite sure what you are suggesting [I don't use Photoshop, which maybe I should, and I am guessing that your specific instructions are for Photoshop] But I think what you are telling me is to brighten the midtones and darken the highlights a bit. Is this right? My struggle with this has been to bring out the detail in both the highlights and midtones...

Thanks again

[sk66]

Originally Posted by jbessen

Thanks, but I am not quite sure what you are suggesting [I don't use Photoshop, which maybe I should, and I am guessing that your specific instructions are for Photoshop] But I think what you are telling me is to brighten the midtones and darken the highlights a bit. Is this right? My struggle with this has been to bring out the detail in both the highlights and midtones...

Thanks again

Most programs will have a levels/curves adjustment tool.
It will look something like this: