Walkies

Richard T · 29 Mar 2006 at 23:35

Smee again!

Just a quick pic of my near 5 month old kitten being taken for a walk in the garden

I'm not sure which I like better. Colour or BW. What do you guys think?

or

Sleepyd · 29 Mar 2006 at 23:43

B&W has more impact for me. I'd do a slight crop on the bottom

Richard T · 29 Mar 2006 at 23:48

Sleepyd said:
B&W has more impact for me. I'd do a slight crop on the bottom

you mean to get rid of the oof part at the bottom?

Colin_da_Killer · 29 Mar 2006 at 23:51

B&W for me too, although the colour is good too.

Very nice DOF there.

P.S can i have your kitten/cat? Plz?

Richard T · 29 Mar 2006 at 23:52

Colin_da_Killer said:
P.S can i have your kitten/cat? Plz?

Sorry but the cat stays!

Richard T · 29 Mar 2006 at 23:57

Sleepyd said:
B&W has more impact for me. I'd do a slight crop on the bottom

is this better/ what you mean?

cyKey · 30 Mar 2006 at 00:16

Its good but I feel the left side is completely wasted. Its really empty and doesn't quite work well. I think if the cat was on the other side going from right to left towards the camera with the empty space on the right side, then it would work better.

Docaroo · 30 Mar 2006 at 00:20

yes much better!!! i think the green grass takes too much attention off the cat, so B&W wins

Sleepyd · 30 Mar 2006 at 00:20

Little bit too much I think and you've taken a bit off the top of his/her tail

olv · 30 Mar 2006 at 01:12

Cute cat

Richard T · 30 Mar 2006 at 08:52

cyKey said:
Its good but I feel the left side is completely wasted. Its really empty and doesn't quite work well. I think if the cat was on the other side going from right to left towards the camera with the empty space on the right side, then it would work better.

Can you explain why if would look better the other way round? :confused:

Richard T · 30 Mar 2006 at 08:52

Sleepyd said:
Little bit too much I think and you've taken a bit off the top of his/her tail

doh!! Was being careful as well

AndyBorzi · 30 Mar 2006 at 09:55

Richard T said:
Can you explain why if would look better the other way round?

I goto a camera club and one of the judges last night was talking about a photo in which a guy was looking right to left. Apparantly, if the picture was reversed (it was a slide) so he was looking left to right it would have made all the difference and would have been considered for the next round!!

I personally don't see it what difference it makes myself - saying that I can't see why the rule of thirds makes a difference either!! I'm just art blind!!

I think the b&w photo is great and great use of dof. I presume you used your macro for this?

I'm not a fan of cats so I'm not going to say awwwwww cute!

morgan · 30 Mar 2006 at 10:08

i'm a colour man myself. gives the shot a nice pop

very sweet little kitten...any chance you can mail me a full size shot (my 14 month old son absolutely loves cats and I wouldnt mind getting the shot printed out for his bedroom - I know its soppy!) [email protected]

cheers

Mohain · 30 Mar 2006 at 10:17

Ahhhhh nice one

What a cute kitty

I prefer the colour one.

cyKey · 30 Mar 2006 at 10:19

Richard T said:
Can you explain why if would look better the other way round?

Looking at your shot it feels like the grass is boxed in and it isn't complimenting the photo. Its hard to explain. There are some people that believe that due to our Western ways of reading left to right we do the same with photos. When I first saw your photo I was like "ok empty grass empty grass empty grass and a cat." The other way round it might be "Aw nice cat." Maybe is just me

I have a rather balanced brain so I like things to be both creative and logically set out. Plus I'm a perfectionist and your shot just misses out on fitting in with the Rule of Thirds.

Strax · 30 Mar 2006 at 11:03

I hope you don't mind

, but this is what I think is better looking. A vertical crop and cloning out the distracting collar end. What do you think?

It would be better if the cat was going in the other direction, but reversing the photo doesn't look right because of the extended leg.

cyKey · 30 Mar 2006 at 11:07

Now that works

MichaelG · 30 Mar 2006 at 12:43

I think it's an excelent photo and it's got really nice tones in B/W.

Whilst people are talking in hand wavey terms about balence and composition, my personal preference is to base the shot on the subjects eyes.
Eg. (Borrow Strax's handy edit)

In this case the cat is looking to the right of shot, so i'd try to include enough negative space on the right hand side so that where the cat is looking at on the camera plane is near the center of the picture. Does that description make sense?

Ok so here what i've done is (5 min lunch-break job, not going for any awards

) moved the cat across and tightened the crop to try and balence the shot with where the cat is looking. I've also cut a bit off the bottom, partly to get the ratio my to my likeing, and to lose a bit more oof fg.
The little red dot is the point of the original shot i've tried to center in the final image.

I find that give you the impression of the subject looking at you, even when the are clearly not... Just my humble thoughts...

morgan · 30 Mar 2006 at 13:12

lets agree here chaps, theres obviously lots of ways to skin a cat