Critique My Shot

[snapdragon]

I played with this shot a bit ,, i croped it ,and ajusted the contrast used soft focus ,& sharpened . he is so cute but I wonder what else I should have done to make him stand out a little more , or am i only grasping at straws so to speak , any suggestions would be great , thanks .

[Teewinot]

awwww...what a cutie...and such big cheeks!

Nice contrast and decent light on the chipmunk...I'm assuming that's light from a flash? Doesn't seem too harsh. I like that you have the subject off to the right a bit instead of dead-center. I also like the greenery adding color to your background.

Is is possible to bring your chippy in a tad more? Even though the green adds some nice color, it's this way and that all over and seems a bit distracting...takes the eye away from your subject a bit...might be good to lose some more of it if possible. In the future it would be cool to try to get the greenery and other background elements a bit more out of focus, creating a nice blurry painterly background and really highlighting your subject. Of course, this sort of ideal background is not always immediately available to us, is it! But thoughts for future shots, nonetheless.

Thanks for sharing your shot...it inspires me to get out and try to capture the chipmunk that lives next to my front walk...they just don't sit still!!

[snapdragon]

Originally Posted by Teewinot

awwww...what a cutie...and such big cheeks!



Is is possible to bring your chippy in a tad more? Even though the green adds some nice color, it's this way and that all over and seems a bit distracting...takes the eye away from your subject a bit...might be good to lose some more of it if possible. In the future it would be cool to try to get the greenery and other background elements a bit more out of focus, creating a nice blurry painterly background and really highlighting your subject. Of course, this sort of ideal background is not always immediately available to us, is it! But thoughts for future shots, nonetheless.
Thanks Teewinot ,i tried your tip on cropping closer and i think it helps alot .
Thanks for sharing your shot...it inspires me to get out and try to capture the chipmunk that lives next to my front walk...they just don't sit still!!

Good luck on catching the chipmunk that lives next to your front walk... no they just don't sit still!!for long .they are a true challange to get set up for ,I have found them to be the true point & shoot and hope I got ya kind of subject ,so i was pleased to captuer an image worth saveing ,they are so darn cute . I am adding the new crop ,all suggestions on how to make this a better photo are wanted . Thanks Teewinot .

[Richard Britt]

I do like the image more after the suggested changes. Talk about a mouth full.
I was just wandering in the line in your Avatar on on purpose.

Do you know if the picture is of Alvin, Theodore or Simon or maybe it is Chip or Dale?

[snapdragon]

Originally Posted by Richard Britt

I do like the image more after the suggested changes. Talk about a mouth full.
I was just wandering in the line in your Avatar on on purpose.

Do you know if the picture is of Alvin, Theodore oror maybe it is Chip or Dale?

LOL I am pretty sure it was Simon ,but his mouth was so full it was hard to tell . Thanks ,I think the crop made a big differance too . the lines on my avatar are on purpose it is a part of photo studio effects called Blinds . i am going to work on a new avatar .

[Teewinot]

I like the new crop better. Now all I see are big cute cheeks!

[RussHeath]

Snapdragon - Nice capture! I often point my camera in the direction of these little guys, but I rarely get any keepers. I like the cropped-in version better.

Question: Did you have to do anything to his eyes? Like doge/burn for a red-eye fix? I ask because I have this issue with little woodland creatures when I'm using a flash (sometimes have a similar problem with my dog). The red-eye fix on all my programs doesn't seem to be able to fix it correctly because it's too different from a human eye. See example attached (It's a close crop and low quality, but you get the idea).

Again, nice shot!

[peeperita]

he looks like me at the buffet.....great photo....

i like the crop....my first instinct, though, is to not crop but to add a vignette...

peeper

[snapdragon]

Originally Posted by newbie

Snapdragon - Nice capture! I often point my camera in the direction of these little guys, but I rarely get any keepers. I like the cropped-in version better.

Question: Did you have to do anything to his eyes? Like doge/burn for a red-eye fix? I ask because I have this issue with little woodland creatures when I'm using a flash (sometimes have a similar problem with my dog). The red-eye fix on all my programs doesn't seem to be able to fix it correctly because it's too different from a human eye. See example attached (It's a close crop and low quality, but you get the idea).

Again, nice shot!

, Thanks ,he is a cutie & yes I had to fix the eyes . I have my own method for that LOL . I take a lot of photos of animals so have seen green eye and this little guy had golden eye . I use photo studio and find ,for me i like to do it this way . I use the magnetic tool to go around the eye after inlarging it as much as i can then I use the color picker and get the color from the outside edge of the eye , it is nearly always the true color there then I play with bucket fill until it looks right and add catch lights where the lightest area was at . it can take some work but turns out prety well IMO , but there must be an easier way LOL .I was going to play with your bear but he is too small . but if i rememner correctly their eyes are brown with a gold catch light added works well .

[snapdragon]

Originally Posted by peeperita

he looks like me at the buffet.....great photo....

i like the crop....my first instinct, though, is to not crop but to add a vignette...

peeper

,thanks I am not too up on photo shop and have never done vignette, how is it done ? I have shoto studio 5.5 ,so not sure if there is something there that would work the same way or not .