This bobcat has been hanging around quite a bit recently, spending some daylight hours hunting and lounging around in my back yard. Photography conditions were less than optimal this morning with a heavily overcast sky and a chilly rain falling. He took advantage of a large red cedar tree along my property line to lie under and shield him from the rain for a while. This is my favorite of many photos I captured of him this morning.
Specific Feedback Requested
I was reasonably happy I was able to catch what I think is a pretty decent photo with this camera and lens even though conditions were working against me. Opinions?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Canon 60D, Canon 70-300mm IS USM Zoom @ 190mm, f/8, ISO 2000, 1/1000 sec., Hand Held. Processed in ACR and PSE 2000 for exposure and cropping. Topaz De-noise applied.
Hi Terry, I love the tension evident in the cat. I took the liberty of popping it into Photoshop. I selected the cat, then with an inverse selection used curves to darken the remainder of the image. I then used burn to further darken the highlights in the rock slab. And I did a touch of saturation to the cat’s coloring. Here is the result. It’s not much of a change but it puts the cat into a bit more relief against the background.
Thanks, Charles. I have a love/hate relationship with that slab of rock. Over the years, there has been a lot of wildlife “pose” on that rock. I guess it’s a good place for them to stop and survey their surroundings. The downside is getting the exposure correct. In this case, the shades in the cats’ fur matches the shades of the rock in many respects, and doesn’t allow for much latitude in processing. It would have been better if he was standing on the rock with that darker background behind him. Still, I liked the pose he gave me.
I love the swishing tail and raised paw, Terry - great pose. I think @Charles_Bell 's treatment of the rock adds impact; I don’t know this animal so am not sure about the coloration. I do like the dark patch behind its scruff! Wonderful to have this in your yard.
Thanks, Mike. I sent several photos and trail cam videos of this cat to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation to see if they could tell me anything about it. They said the only thing they could tell me for sure is that it is a “sub-adult”. At this point, most of it’s fur is a light tannish-silver, with patches and streaks of darker brown. But his color varies according to the light hitting it, as you might suspect.
