I hear a Bee buzzing around...
by dassilem

Comment:
Hi Melissa,

I saw your post in the forums about wanting more comments. You've gotten some good advice already so I'm not going to comment about subject matter and setup, but instead about a few quick adjustments you could have done to this photo to help it a bit.

This is the histogram of your entry.



Ideally, you want to get as far to the right as you can without hitting the edge but this is okay. But you'll want each of the end pointers to be right under the ends of the histogram. If you hold your mouse on the one of the right and hold down the ALT key, the photo will turn black. Move the pointer to the left until just before you start to see some other colors appear (you'll have to move until that point and then back off a bit.) Likewise, do the same with the left arrow, except this time the picture will be white. The middle pointer you can move back and forth to adjust the contrast a bit.

Then, your histogram will look kind of like this and you'll see that your entry has a bit more "pop."



You can also use a little Unsharp Mask to sharpen it up a little.

Then compare the two.



Hopefully that helps a little. Let me know if you'd like me to take your stuff down!

Whitewashed
by alfresco

Comment:
Get some sun, boy.

Stairway To Styx
by bseifipour

Comment:
Wow. My measly little brain can't comprehend how you can go from this to such an awesome final shot. So cool.

Baroque Majesty
by lynnesite

Comment:
I am so moving in. Did I say that before? I mean it now. I'll bring a sleeping bag.

Only a mother....
by jwcole1224

Comment:
Lol, definitely!

Sweetheart
by shanksware

Comment:
This was my favorite shot. I would have loved to see it ribbon (as I'm sure would've you!). So simple and yet so powerful.

And now that I check your profile, I see you're a fellow Minnesotan - for now anyway. Neat. :)

I {heart} Kiwis
by muckpond

Comment:
Well, look at you! Nice placing, Muckford. Way to shop your ass off without appearing assless.

Fifty-Six
by jmsetzler

Comment:
DNMC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:P

IMG_8637
by langdon

Comment:
awesome hair.

Blue Eyes (aka Yet Another Cat Picture)
by Melethia

Comment:
I'm taking your advice. :) Beautiful cat shot...stunning eyes. I love the kitty's coloring, too. A plainer background might be nicer but I realize that cats aren't really down with posing when you want them to and you're limited by basic editing rules.