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A lonely cat in a Provence village
Lens: Pentax Smc DA 18 - 55 mm f/3.5 - 5.6 ED AL WR Camera: Pentax K5 Photo Location: Provence, France ISO: 200 Shutter Speed: 1/45s Aperture: F11 
Posted By: Raphax, 07-02-2013, 04:46 AM

I fell in love with the colors of this typical village in Provence and wanted to share it with you. Thanks for watching


Provence, Var | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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07-02-2013, 05:17 AM   #2
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Great shot, colour is beautiful. Try scrolling the page up and the cat looks like it blinks, no i have not been on the turps.
07-03-2013, 12:52 AM   #3
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Outstanding composition and colors.
Only regret, if I was to nitpick, is that a bit of details in the cats fur wouldn't go amiss. I see you're shooting with a K5 (right?), if you have the RAW I'd guess that you should be able to lift just a bit of texture out of the black in PP - and that'd make the picture jump from "outstanding" to "absolutely perfectly NG-worthy".
07-03-2013, 04:36 AM   #4
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Well done!

07-03-2013, 06:48 AM   #5
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Great shot! The beautiful colors make the black cat stand out nicely. Well captured!
07-03-2013, 03:03 PM   #6
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Thanks all for the nice comments

@tclausen:
What you are saying about the cat is interesting and at the time I postproduced the raw file (from my K5, yes) I only had the Pentax software (and very very limited skills). I had to make a choice between texture in the cat's fur and an overall contrasty and eye-flattering scene. I chose the latter.
I have acquired DXO optics pro since then and this allows me for more refined PP operations even though I have been quite happy with the Pentax software.
In the case of this particular picture, I am now able to increase contrast and tones without transforming the cat into a just a silhouette.
Maybe this one is better?
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07-04-2013, 01:51 AM   #7
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Good colour.
The cat reminds me of the cat from the Miyazaki movie "Kiki's delivery service". Google some images to see what I mean.

Regards,
--Anders.

07-04-2013, 03:01 AM   #8
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I think what tclausen meant was to open up the shadows to get some details back in the cat, something like this, literally a 2 second job with the shadow slider in PS6.

With a raw file and more time I'm sure you could get even more.
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07-04-2013, 03:14 AM   #9
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Absolutely adore the colours and the black cat is a wonderful juxtaposition. Awesome shot, great eye!
07-04-2013, 04:40 AM   #10
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@kerrowdown

I see what you mean but I don't have any local correction available with my software (DXO). Of course I could raise the shadows of the whole picture but I do not like the result very much. And I didn't want to make this black cat look too bright but of course it is a matter of taste and I am interested in knowing what your opinion is.
One more thing: I am wondering whether my screen is too bright or not because I get rather dark photos when printed. Perhaps what I see is brighter to what you guys get on your screen. I should calibrate my screen but I have a rather cheap laptop and I am dubious about the increase in "performance" (accuracy) I would get from it. Digital photography can get very expensive when it comes to postproduction and colour management...
07-04-2013, 04:49 AM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by Raphax Quote
I am interested in knowing what your opinion is
IMHO you do need to bring detail into the cat, otherwise you run the danger of the cat becoming a black cat shaped silhouette.

QuoteOriginally posted by Raphax Quote
I should calibrate my screen
True colour management is about the whole process, right from the taking, viewing and printing, all these stages should be calibrated, otherwise the results can be as you describe.
07-04-2013, 05:18 AM   #12
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Beautiful composition
07-04-2013, 07:05 AM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by kerrowdown Quote
I think what tclausen meant was to open up the shadows to get some details back in the cat, something like this, literally a 2 second job with the shadow slider in PS6.

With a raw file and more time I'm sure you could get even more.
As usual, the kerrowdown reads my mind on these matters - it's exactly like this, although I /think/ that you did slide the slider just a bit too far for my liking, too much "light" in the cats fur.

Suggest keeping the black (almost) as saturated as the surrounding surfaces, but with just a hint of texture, and this picture is really a winner. I hope that OP still has the original raw file, as you say it should be a 2 second job to get this perfect
07-04-2013, 07:16 AM   #14
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Love the colors and the black cat is just a perfect addition. You have a good eye.
07-05-2013, 02:58 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by kerrowdown Quote
True colour management is about the whole process, right from the taking, viewing and printing, all these stages should be calibrated, otherwise the results can be as you describe.
Unfortunately this is true! I didn't realize this when I purchased my K5 (and first DSLR) last year...
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