The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I am starting to post images again after a few years of absence and tought this one would be a great start since it is from my beginning of nature photography back in the early 1990s.
Technical Details
CONTAX RTS III, Sigma APO 5.6/400, Kodokrome 64, scanned with Nikon Coolscan 5000ED.
Photoshop retouch and cloned away some distracting stuff at the foreground. Slight crop.
Hi and welcome to NPN! I see you’ve been a member for a while, but I’m glad to see some photos from you and hope that you will become a regular. We have a few film shooters around and oh, I have to say that I envy your Contax. What a grand piece of kit. Do you still shoot with it? I have some equally vintage 35mm rigs and they are not in my rotation anymore. Digital is just too darn good and convenient. I do miss that shutter sound and cranking the film lever.
I like this cub very much - such an inquisitive and attentive look. Cats get over their kittenish cloud of obliviousness pretty quickly, don’t they? Lovely light and sharpness. The tonality fall off in film is so subtle and I kind of miss it. Makes me want to dig out my Kodachrome and dust off my Nikon scanner!
If you have a mind, you could just burn in that bit of light background in the upper left, but it’s really not necessary. One thing I think would help is to pop a radial filter around each of the eyes and give them a tiny exposure lift. You have some good catchlights there and doing that would call attention to that gaze even more.
Oh and I have to say I love your avatar…I’m a wine geek myself and so lift my glass to you!
And we think we’re roughing it when we start getting too much noise at iso 12,800! I always marvel at the early bird photographers that thought 1/10 second was a fast exposure. This is a really nice scene and you did an excellent job capturing it.
I remember your posts from earlier days in NPN and I’m really looking forward to seeing what you’ve been up to lately.
My first critique here, so take it with a grain of salt.
I love the cub’s expression – he’s serious, not cute. Definitely not a pet kitten. Instead, I get the clear feeling of a wild predator who just happens to be young!
My only critique is that I find the out of focus rump & tail on the left to be distracting. Would it work to crop the left side at the expense of the cub’s back paws?
Thanks for your comments, which I apreciate very much.
I do not have the Contax RTS III anymore. I sold it some years ago when I switched to digital. Anyhow that camera still is for me the benchmark in “easy of use”. Todays cameras are full with options in hidden menues and that makes me crazy. That is why I photograph in manual mode, even with my actual Canon EOS-7D MKII
Welcome back @Cay-Uwe_Kulzer !
I have been a film photographer for so many years, but find it strange that how we have become accustomed to digital files so that film started liiking bit strange. BTW I started my nature photography journey in 1989.
I love the image and expression in eyes !
You may give image , overall more canvas around and reduce the blacks. It may benefit from some boost in saturation.
Looking forward to more images from your portfolio!
