Cat Portrait - Please Critique (Image 125k)

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

01/24/2003 08:36:30 PM · #1

Here is a portrait of one of my cats I took today. I don't do many portraints, and I really don't know a lot about portrait composition techniques, so please look at this photo and tell me what you like, things I could have done better, etc. Thanks :)

Brian

Canon Powershot G2 1/50 at 2.8 ISO 200

Message edited by author 2003-01-24 20:40:46.

jimmyn4

Canon EOS-7D

01/24/2003 08:39:12 PM · #2

I don't like the diagonal lines in the background. I think this is a great photo other than that. But I'm picky. I don't know much about portraits so i'll leave it at that.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

01/24/2003 08:43:09 PM · #3

I guess they dont really stand out to me, but I could see why you wouldnt like the railing. Snickers (the cats name ;) ) likes to sit at this window now and then, and I thought it was a great chance to try some animal portraits, since it's almost impossible to get them to sit still for anything other than a snapshot ;)

Brian

Sonifo

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

01/24/2003 08:48:39 PM · #4

Great shot. It just seems that the camera is focusing more on the nose of the cat and window rather then the whole face of the cat. You can tell this by looking at the upper part of the window and panning acrossed it from left to right and notice when it starts to go out of focus. Keep shooting. Is this the only shot you got of the cat. I like the mustache.

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

01/24/2003 09:14:02 PM · #5

I took maybe a dozen shots... it takes patience trying to wait for the cat to look just the right way. This was the best one though. There were a couple of others that were decent too.

I plan on getting portraits of all 3 of our cats, but Snickers is probably the most photogenic.

daysez

Nikon D200

01/25/2003 03:36:08 AM · #6

I can clearly see that you have captured this cat's favorite pastime, the sharp focus on the cat's face and the windowscreen right in front of him say this loud and clear. The use of monochrome is in my opinion a good choice eliminates any distraction color would have in the background. I do not like the thin black line and drop shadow border, to me they muddy the division between the black of the cat and the background. Did you try a thin white border with the dropshadow, I would be intrested to see if that would improve the devision between picture and background.

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

01/25/2003 10:40:18 AM · #7

Getting a cat in the right 'pose' and 'position' for a portrait is difficult. This is an excellent shot, however. I like the black and white choice. The background in your shot doesn't bother me at all.. I think the screen adds an interesting element to that background with the texture and shallow depth of field.

If you want to experiement with a different type of background, watch your cat for a few days and see where he likes to 'perch'. My cat likes a partiular lamp table that I have here, so most of my cat portrait attempts have been on that table....

Meet Potter

emorgan49

Olympus E-5

Olympus 50mm f/1.8 MF Normal Zuiko

01/25/2003 12:19:54 PM · #8

I have a "stealth dog" who is also hard to photograph. The auto focus on the camera doesn't see him at all. It goes around looking for something with a pattern to focus on. Invariable it gets the background and not the dog. Looks like the same story with your 'Stealth" cat. Try manual vocus or locking the focus.