Lonely cat

[RustySterling]

Thought I'd like to share this shot. It's the shot I took for the weekly assignment. I was walking to take shots of the annual Pet Parade where I live and saw this cat sleeping on a sofa abandoned in front of a home. Thought it was just perfect.

Here is the EXIF:

Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 24-105mm f/4L
Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 55 mm
Exposure: +0.25
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

[douglas]

Cats have thet knack of making themselves comfortable anywhere! Good picture.

[Heaterguy]

Nice shot. Almost looks like a painting on my monitor.

[RustySterling]

Originally Posted by Heaterguy

Nice shot. Almost looks like a painting on my monitor.

I can see what you mean. I had some trouble with this shot. For one there were some huge reflections in the window behind the couch. I cropped most of that out but then I had to change the brightness of the remaining reflections because they really drew the eye away from the cat. As a final touch I put some vignette on the photo to again draw the eye more toward the cat.

[RustySterling]

Just bumping this up one more time to see if there are any other comments.

[ArcticLancer]

I'd be interested to see the original image to see how far you've taken the picture, honestly. Another part of me wants you to have a bit more contrast in the couch, or maybe furthered the vingetting slightly. I know this is preferance, but I find the whites of the cat matching the whites of the couch rather closesly and causing him to blend a bit.

All that said, he's still a pretty kitty. <3

[RustySterling]

Originally Posted by ArcticLancer

I'd be interested to see the original image to see how far you've taken the picture, honestly. Another part of me wants you to have a bit more contrast in the couch, or maybe furthered the vingetting slightly. I know this is preferance, but I find the whites of the cat matching the whites of the couch rather closesly and causing him to blend a bit.

All that said, he's still a pretty kitty. <3

Here's the unretouched original (except to save from RAW to JPG). You'll notice there is a vhs tape cartridge that I had to clone out. You'll also see how much I cropped.

[ArcticLancer]

That being the case, I think you did an excellent job. I didn't even notice the reflections in the glass on your original post until I saw them here. I'm glad you cropped out the bricks - they feel far too out of place and distracting.
Yeah, not a whole lot else to add I suppose. Seeing the original image and your refined version, it was a stellar job.

[RustySterling]

Originally Posted by ArcticLancer

That being the case, I think you did an excellent job. I didn't even notice the reflections in the glass on your original post until I saw them here. I'm glad you cropped out the bricks - they feel far too out of place and distracting.
Yeah, not a whole lot else to add I suppose. Seeing the original image and your refined version, it was a stellar job.

Thanks you very much. I appreciate hearing that. Yeah, it was some tough stuff to work with but there was something there and I'd glad to could salvage the look and feel of what I was seeing.