I received a 50mm F1.8 lens for Valentines day.. So I HAD to try it out. I love this lens, it is so quick. But even with how quick it is, I still was forced to use 800 ISO because of the lack of available light (I can not afford studio light) And I did not want to go all the way to F1.8. If I was go to F1.8 then the focus would be to narrow. I found that focusing on the eyes would make even the nose then out of focus. That is awesome for some pictures but not this one...
Post editing:
slight de saturation
sharpen
crop
save for web
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You definitely captured an expression with this photo. 'Captivated' as your title works quite well. I get the feeling that the cat is watching a toy or something being moved as a tease, and would be moving to go after it very soon.
The DOF is pretty good. I think another 1/2 stop of so would have really made the eye crisp...it's not OOF or anything, just a smidge softer than the area just in front of it (hair on bridge of nose). Hmmm...looking a little more it's hard to tell. It may be the reflection in the eye that makes it feel soft because the detail of the iris is faded some. Polarizer? Might have helped control the reflection some. Detail and clarity in the focal zone is great.
While this shot is in color, it feels like sepia. Looking at your notes I see you did a slight desat. Being an advanced challenge I would have tried to save the eye color.
Compositionally it's fine overall. The whiskers (lower right) help draw me into the image, taking me to the nose and then the eye. Kind of a natural L shaped line that brings the viewer to center. I think a bit more room to the left would give the cats' gaze some breathing room. Right now the subject is somewhat centered which makes it feel tight.
Did you know you had 720 pixels and 200kb of filesize to work with? You only used 640 and 150kb. This photo is nearly square cropped already. Taking the long side to 720 would have really let the viewer see the detail better and make the image stand out more.
The more I look at this shot, the more I like it. At first I was not sure, but after studying it, I appreciate the details you have captured here. It is sharp in all the right places, and the softness is just right, the whiskers are pin sharp. the colours are deep and rich. Clever angle too. Well done 9
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