This bobcat posed so nicely for his portrait; how could I resist? Taken in my back yard.
Any. Photo was taken in low light conditions, and he so closely matched the colors of the environment!
Canon 60D, Canon 70-300mm IS USM Zoom, f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 1600, Hand Held. Processed in ACR and PSE 2020 for exposure and cropping. I selected the cat to brighten the cat a bit, and applied a luminosity mask to the background to adjust brightness and tone.
Amazingly camouflaging, Terry! Love the pose too. Nicely done.
Wow super! The backyard huh? Nice. I might look at toning down the sharpness and the green color in the background - something to play with.
Thanks @linda_mellor. He/she (I don’t know which) is such a beautiful cat.
Thanks @Kris_Smith. Yeah, this cat has been an infrequent visitor. I missed an epic photo op a couple days ago while working on some landscaping at the far back of my property at the edge of the woodland. I was bent over working and, when I straightened to give my back a rest, this cat was standing not 30 feet from me, just watching. I had done what I swore never to do - go out in the yard without my camera. It watched me for a moment, then sauntered slowly away.
As for your suggestion, that’s exactly what this photo needs! I played with that bg forever and could never get it quite where I wanted it. Your suggestion of blurring it a bit is perfect; it helps the cat stand out. I’ve reposted, but please understand this is just a quick edit, and needs a lot more detailed work. But this repost shows what blurring that bg can accomplish.
A step in the right direction - I think using a tilt shift blur on a layer without the cat will work. I put a tutorial up here somwhere.
And wow…just watching you huh? Cats can be so curious. I’m not familiar with how bold this species is, but it seems like it to me.
Yeah…I tell myself the same thing about bringing a camera into the yard. Twice now I’ve missed that epic shot. Once a weasel in its white coat in early spring and once a mink down by the dock. Bah!
Great subject and good pose !
It seems your lens is back focusing ?
And your quick edit with blurring is somehow, not able to help the image.
Terry, quite the sighting, “in your backyard” and very nicely posed. The soft light lets the details stand out. As Jagdeep suggests, it looks like your focus (based on the grass) was just behind the cat’s feet, although the face and head look acceptably sharp. Were you looking up for this, because the plane of sharpness looks tilted from the grass through the head?
Thanks @JRajput and @Mark_Seaver. The lens could be back focusing somewhat as I have never had it checked or adjusted, though I have been thinking of doing so for some time. Actually, Mark I was well above the subject, standing on my deck. He was about 14 feet below me and quite a distance from me, and I had to shoot past some tree limbs. In fact, I removed part of a limb from the ULC.
