Pets Echo the Cat

Echo the Cat · 06:09 AM

I took this during a random sunny date late last year (Dec-28th). He just looked so peaceful that I had to share

Image has been resized but is otherwise straight-out-of-the-camera - though I do wonder if it might benefit from a little cropping?

--EDIT--
Just noticed the fur on his chin is overblown - will need to see if I can recover that too

photolady95 · 03-04-2019, 07:06 AM

I think the crop looks fine. Too much cropped off the front and he looks like he's butting his head against the frame and that's not good for photos. The blown whites are hard to keep in check but you might want to try to tone down the highlights a bit, that might bring out the white better. Other than that, he looks contented and happy! Great shot. TFS

cprobertson1 · 03-04-2019, 02:11 PM

I can't save his overblown fur! It's totally blown out! I shall need to practice dealing with whites in the sunlight!

Here's another I dug out - one of my favourites... It gives me chills to look at it actually - but I absolutely love the iridescence in his eyes (caused by the CPL filter I was using to hide the reflections from the window he was peering through

- a happy little accident!)

Can anybody let me know if he has a greenish tinge btw? I noticed that on one of my monitors he appears a pale green colour, but he looks good on my main monitor... BUT I'm not sure which monitor is better calibrated!

reh321 · 03-07-2019, 04:01 PM

Originally posted by cprobertson1

I can't save his overblown fur! It's totally blown out! I shall need to practice dealing with whites in the sunlight!

Here's another I dug out - one of my favourites... It gives me chills to look at it actually - but I absolutely love the iridescence in his eyes (caused by the CPL filter I was using to hide the reflections from the window he was peering through

- a happy little accident!)

Can anybody let me know if he has a greenish tinge btw? I noticed that on one of my monitors he appears a pale green colour, but he looks good on my main monitor... BUT I'm not sure which monitor is better calibrated!

Everything looks good on my monitor - only the eyes look green to me.

BTW - from my experience of shooting slides for many years, I would suggest that you under-expose a tad if "whites" matter to you; with digital, you can even adjust levels later, but in any case you've avoided blowing out the "whites".

photoptimist · 03-07-2019, 04:14 PM

THE CAT......The Cat......the cat

(Sorry! I could not resist!)

P.S. That's a very nice pheline photo!

cprobertson1 · 03-08-2019, 12:58 AM

Originally posted by reh321

Everything looks good on my monitor - only the eyes look green to me.

BTW - from my experience of shooting slides for many years, I would suggest that you under-expose a tad if "whites" matter to you; with digital, you can even adjust levels later, but in any case you've avoided blowing out the "whites".

Ah, that's good to hear!

He looked kinda like a sloth on one of my monitors but looked as perfect (to my eyes) on my main monitor - but because I colour-corrected him on my main monitor, I wasn't sure which one was out. It turns out that both my secondary monitors have a greenish tinge to them - interesting stuff!

So, the white patches - under-expose and recover later if required; sounds like a plan!

In fact, I may have just had a flashback - pretty sure that white patches/scenes were one of the textbook examples of when to use the EV-offset/compensation control on the camera. Pre-lesson learned! Now all I need to do is put it into practice intuitively and I can say that I've actually learned my lesson

photolady95 · 03-08-2019, 09:14 AM

Originally posted by cprobertson1

So, the white patches - under-expose and recover later if required; sounds like a plan!

I forgot to tell you that at the beginning. I always underexpose on whites, like when I shoot white roses, it's a most to do thing or the whites are blown out and hard to recover if you don't.

reh321 · 03-08-2019, 09:40 AM

Originally posted by cprobertson1

In fact, I may have just had a flashback - pretty sure that white patches/scenes were one of the textbook examples of when to use the EV-offset/compensation control on the camera. Pre-lesson learned! Now all I need to do is put it into practice intuitively and I can say that I've actually learned my lesson

We have two cats. Fifteen-year-old Velcro is white and gray - much an echo of Echo. Eight-year-old Leila is pure black. Photographs of them is always an adventure - especially photos that include both of them.

cprobertson1 · 03-11-2019, 01:21 AM

Originally posted by reh321

We have two cats. Fifteen-year-old Velcro is white and gray - much an echo of Echo. Eight-year-old Leila is pure black. Photographs of them is always an adventure - especially photos that include both of them.

Velcro! What a name! I love it!

I'm lucky with Echo in that he's pretty placid - quite happy to sit in the sun or in any little "cave" he can find in the livingroom (spaces between charis, under tables... lampshades...) - my uncle's cats, on the other hand, are a handful - trying to get more than one in the same picture is like trying to herd cats------- oh! So that's where that saying comes from!

@photolady95: I'm waiting for the sunshine to come out and then I'm going to head out and practice shooting white things - I don't think I'll have much luck with flowers at the moment (there were snowdrops out a few weeks back, but I haven't seen them since making me think that they didn't survive!) - so I'll head to the beach park where there is a flock of swans (no, wait, a group of swans have a particular name, don't they? Okay, so they are called a "Game" when they're on the water (Game of Swans, anyone? I'd watch it!), and a "Bevy" or "Wedge" when they're in flight. Cool!)

Anyway, Irvine beachpark and the harbour are home to an extended family of swans that'd be good to practice on!

I know this because I used to kayak down that way and one day I met some swans at eye-level and they were honestly terrifying. "Mute Swans" my illustrious bottom! Honking-flapping-screeching-splashing-Swans, more like!

Okay, to be fair, I strayed too close to their nesting areas, so I can't exactly hold it against them... but holy canole - did I get a fright! It was like something screaming and honking from the depths of some tartarian nightmare as it barreled from the rushes at me in vertiable outrage; and o'! The snapping! The eye-level-snapping!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

::shudders:: Family Anatidae? More like family Anathema! They gave me the fear!

Wait - what was I talking about again? I was too busy having flashbacks to kayak-vs-large-waterfowl - ah, yes! I was thinking that swans would make good practice for not blowing out the whites: I can get close up shots with the wide-angle and some long focal length shots with my 200mm or 300mm lens and maybe a teleconverter if I fancy a challenge.

Thanks for the idea!

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03-04-2019, 07:06 AM	#2
photolady95 Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: May 2009 Location: Cruising the forum watching his back Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,712	I think the crop looks fine. Too much cropped off the front and he looks like he's butting his head against the frame and that's not good for photos. The blown whites are hard to keep in check but you might want to try to tone down the highlights a bit, that might bring out the white better. Other than that, he looks contented and happy! Great shot. TFS

03-07-2019, 04:01 PM	#4
reh321 Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: South Bend, IN, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 23,185	Originally posted by cprobertson1 I can't save his overblown fur! It's totally blown out! I shall need to practice dealing with whites in the sunlight! Here's another I dug out - one of my favourites... It gives me chills to look at it actually - but I absolutely love the iridescence in his eyes (caused by the CPL filter I was using to hide the reflections from the window he was peering through - a happy little accident!) Can anybody let me know if he has a greenish tinge btw? I noticed that on one of my monitors he appears a pale green colour, but he looks good on my main monitor... BUT I'm not sure which monitor is better calibrated! Everything looks good on my monitor - only the eyes look green to me. BTW - from my experience of shooting slides for many years, I would suggest that you under-expose a tad if "whites" matter to you; with digital, you can even adjust levels later, but in any case you've avoided blowing out the "whites".

03-07-2019, 04:14 PM	#5
photoptimist Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2016 Photos: Albums Posts: 5,128	THE CAT......The Cat......the cat (Sorry! I could not resist!) P.S. That's a very nice pheline photo!

03-08-2019, 12:58 AM	#6
cprobertson1 Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Irvine, Ayrshire Posts: 386 Original Poster	Originally posted by reh321 Everything looks good on my monitor - only the eyes look green to me. BTW - from my experience of shooting slides for many years, I would suggest that you under-expose a tad if "whites" matter to you; with digital, you can even adjust levels later, but in any case you've avoided blowing out the "whites". Ah, that's good to hear! He looked kinda like a sloth on one of my monitors but looked as perfect (to my eyes) on my main monitor - but because I colour-corrected him on my main monitor, I wasn't sure which one was out. It turns out that both my secondary monitors have a greenish tinge to them - interesting stuff! So, the white patches - under-expose and recover later if required; sounds like a plan! In fact, I may have just had a flashback - pretty sure that white patches/scenes were one of the textbook examples of when to use the EV-offset/compensation control on the camera. Pre-lesson learned! Now all I need to do is put it into practice intuitively and I can say that I've actually learned my lesson

03-08-2019, 09:14 AM	#7
photolady95 Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: May 2009 Location: Cruising the forum watching his back Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,712	Originally posted by cprobertson1 So, the white patches - under-expose and recover later if required; sounds like a plan! I forgot to tell you that at the beginning. I always underexpose on whites, like when I shoot white roses, it's a most to do thing or the whites are blown out and hard to recover if you don't.

03-08-2019, 09:40 AM	#8
reh321 Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: South Bend, IN, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 23,185	Originally posted by cprobertson1 In fact, I may have just had a flashback - pretty sure that white patches/scenes were one of the textbook examples of when to use the EV-offset/compensation control on the camera. Pre-lesson learned! Now all I need to do is put it into practice intuitively and I can say that I've actually learned my lesson We have two cats. Fifteen-year-old Velcro is white and gray - much an echo of Echo. Eight-year-old Leila is pure black. Photographs of them is always an adventure - especially photos that include both of them.

03-11-2019, 01:21 AM	#9
cprobertson1 Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Irvine, Ayrshire Posts: 386 Original Poster	Originally posted by reh321 We have two cats. Fifteen-year-old Velcro is white and gray - much an echo of Echo. Eight-year-old Leila is pure black. Photographs of them is always an adventure - especially photos that include both of them. Velcro! What a name! I love it! I'm lucky with Echo in that he's pretty placid - quite happy to sit in the sun or in any little "cave" he can find in the livingroom (spaces between charis, under tables... lampshades...) - my uncle's cats, on the other hand, are a handful - trying to get more than one in the same picture is like trying to herd cats------- oh! So that's where that saying comes from! @photolady95: I'm waiting for the sunshine to come out and then I'm going to head out and practice shooting white things - I don't think I'll have much luck with flowers at the moment (there were snowdrops out a few weeks back, but I haven't seen them since making me think that they didn't survive!) - so I'll head to the beach park where there is a flock of swans (no, wait, a group of swans have a particular name, don't they? Okay, so they are called a "Game" when they're on the water (Game of Swans, anyone? I'd watch it!), and a "Bevy" or "Wedge" when they're in flight. Cool!) Anyway, Irvine beachpark and the harbour are home to an extended family of swans that'd be good to practice on! I know this because I used to kayak down that way and one day I met some swans at eye-level and they were honestly terrifying. "Mute Swans" my illustrious bottom! Honking-flapping-screeching-splashing-Swans, more like! Okay, to be fair, I strayed too close to their nesting areas, so I can't exactly hold it against them... but holy canole - did I get a fright! It was like something screaming and honking from the depths of some tartarian nightmare as it barreled from the rushes at me in vertiable outrage; and o'! The snapping! The eye-level-snapping!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! ::shudders:: Family Anatidae? More like family Anathema! They gave me the fear! Wait - what was I talking about again? I was too busy having flashbacks to kayak-vs-large-waterfowl - ah, yes! I was thinking that swans would make good practice for not blowing out the whites: I can get close up shots with the wide-angle and some long focal length shots with my 200mm or 300mm lens and maybe a teleconverter if I fancy a challenge. Thanks for the idea!