Santa, I Think It's A Little Big
by OneSweetSin

Comment by Wobette:
Lovely cat - and well behaved too

Santa, I Think It's A Little Big
by OneSweetSin

Comment by Art Roflmao:
Awww. All those cat lovers will score this cutie really high! ...too bad I'm not one of 'em. :-) But I do like the shot and image quality. Good job.

Santa, I Think It's A Little Big
by OneSweetSin

Comment by cbeller:
cute, but out of focus

Santa, I Think It's A Little Big
by OneSweetSin

Comment by Dave Gordon:
Cute kitten, cute pose, nice capture on the fur. There's some burnout on the hat, but overall a very nice shot.

The December Kitten
by OneSweetSin

Comment by Artyste:
Welcome from the Critique Club

Initial Thoughts

Cute photo, but the kitten seems a little distressed. The packaging is also a bit too chaotic, at first glance.

Composition / Content

The composition seems a little bit off to me. The wrappings of the open gift kind of overpower the kitten, and the bulk seems to be too far to the left, where I think a horizontal centering would have looked much stronger here. A kitten in a box for December is pretty cliche, so works well for a "calender"

Background

The black background doesn't really work well here to me. Seems too cold and uninviting.

Camera Work - Technical

Great focus and DOF, but the exposure is a little bright. Some harsh highlights on the kitten, and bits of the wrapping. Foil is notoriously hard to expose for, of course, but your light source seems a little too bright.

Digital Processing

From what you've put down as digital processing, I can't see any glaring problems. A good use of USM, as the image doesn't seem too over-sharp, and I can't tell where you've cloned or smudged.

Fits the Challenge

I think this image definitely fits the challenge. It's a good tie-in to the month, and has a decent cliche that would fit in a calender of this type. A more, "holiday" type background would have helped, or even a plain white bg.

My Opinion on the Photo

It's a good subject for a calender, but a few things turned me off about the photo itself. The kitten looks distressed, the background is harsh and doesn't really belong, and the whole thing is a little over-exposed. I'd have also worked on getting a different perspective to work with a more horizontally centered crop. Good Luck with future submissions.

The December Kitten
by OneSweetSin

Comment by StormyWeathers:
Something isn't warm and fuzzy with the black background but kittens are always cute. Good job.

The December Kitten
by OneSweetSin

Comment by mrorange002:
what did you feed that cat? it looks like it's gonna puke :P
pretty funny, and cute(?) shot :)

Quietly Practicing
by OneSweetSin

Comment by mrorange002:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

This image definately fits the challenge, the lighting seems a bit harsh though. The shadow cast is a minor distraction. Maybe a little less flash next time, or even use a couple of desk lamps, one on each side. The black background works well, and is very black. Maybe a slower shutter speed to capture the movement in the drumsticks. To do this, set your shutter maybe at 1/10th and use the flash as a "fill" light. That way you will have some sharpness in the image (when the flash pops) and some blur effect from the long exposure/movement of the drumsticks. There is a small black speck on the left drumstick, easily removed with a small amout of cloning.

Otherwise a good shot, and a nice take on the challenge!

Keep up the good work :)
Eric

The December Kitten
by OneSweetSin

Comment by Amason:
Great for cat lovers, well done.

The December Kitten
by OneSweetSin

Comment by Gatorguy:
The black background is a little abrupt for me. 5