I love cats - so this is of a cat

[studysession]

I think the explanation at the top says it all. I used PS Elements and a TopazLabs Simplify plugin. I have been practicing with different effects and learning what I can in post processing.

A lot of the time I am taking pictures of my friends pets.

[OsmosisStudios]

Umm, dont take this the wrong way...

You ruined it.

[studysession]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Umm, dont take this the wrong way...

You ruined it.

Funny _ I do not take it the wrong way. I am practicing and learning, I did not state that I know what I am doing yet. LOL

[gingindhs]

It's always good to try new things and learn from them. I don't know what exactly you were trying to achieve but I would say that the original is the better picture. Just a tip also, crop out unnecessary stuff - in this case, the bag a the top left. My eye went straight there, instead of at the cat.

[studysession]

Thanks!!!

Right now it is just getting used to the effects of what the plug-ins can do. Appreciate the crop comment.

[BigFuzzy]

heya Studysession,
My comment is more generic and, I hope, more helpful to your learning and development than commenting on this specific photo. I hope you take it as constructive because I see there's a lot of potential.. if you just slow down a bit.

I've noticed, via some of your other posts, that you have great interest in PP techniques.. which in and of itself if fine and good and motivating.

However, at your stage of development (as I see it, discard opinion at will of course! ) you should be a bit more concerned with nailing some of the basics of photos before trying to enhance (some would say "fix") your images.

For example, regardless of what the PP did to this image (good or bad), the image you started out with is pretty..meh.. to me. This is a very snap-shotish photo of a cat from a very standard perspective. There are 600billion of these online. Composition, cropping and perspective are very meh as well. No amount of PP, in my humble and harsh opinion, will save this image and make it more than the previously mentioned 600billion.

Also, in your "bokeh portrait" thread, though the original was quite decent, a bit more thought into the core elements of a photo would really have helped make the original be more "wow" once you applied the great bokeh stuff to an already strong image. And the one of the girl by the tree would have been so much better had you nailed the focus/shutterspeed.

So, my suggestion, before even discussing/considering PP, is to ail all your photos in all in-camera ways as best possible. PP, to me, is about squeezing that little bit more out of an already good photo.

Don't get me wrong. Experimenting is great, don't let my words stop you. But I think you'll get even better results if you spend just a bit more time nailing those basic principles before jumping into what you want to do PP-wise. I'd rather you shoot 50% more images and skip PPing entirely than the other way around. You'll learn more that way I wager.

Keep it up!

[studysession]

BigFuzzy -
I appreciate the comments and nothing is taken personal. Part of posting here is to get advise like that.

The shot of the little girl -
I am going back over to practice some of those shots with her again. She is patient and willing to pose for me to give me more practice. I fully agree it was fuzzy but I still liked the shot even though it could of been better.

Thanks -