BWC - The Cat and the Fox

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Phal

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I was near the BWC again this weekend for my work xmas party so I popped in before it started :)
It's quite hard to get good pics of the Scottish Wildcats there because they're behind a mesh that you can't get close to so it tends to interfere with the AF quite a lot. I managed to get a few shots from the side where the metal fence is a bit wider
I liked the expression here

Scottish Wildcat is not impressed by Phal44, on Flickr

Here I was able to get quite low down since I could walk quite far away from the fox down a little slope and shoot through the fence there. Shooting into the sun a little made it a bit hazy but it's cool :)
Picturesque Fox by Phal44, on Flickr
 
Well, technically the shots have lots of room for improvement but they are both nicely captured moments, which is what really counts :)
 
Nawty said:
Well, technically the shots have lots of room for improvement but they are both nicely captured moments, which is what really counts :)
Click to expand...

Feel free to post critique too :) I might not agree lol but that's fine too
 
Weeeelll...

They are both rather centrally framed, not so bad with the fox but the wild cat composition doesn't really work for me. Some fill flash with the cat would have worked nicely against the backlight, or if you don't have the flash power or don't want to to use flash then upping some shadows (and lowering blacks) in PP would produce a more balanced image of the subject IMHO.

The fox has incredibly low detail and, especially, contrast which I guess is caused by an oblique sun or maybe shooting through a small gap (as you said you did).

But like I said, getting caught up in technicalities isn't the point of capturing such moments but getting the other things right make the difference between a nice capture and a great photo :)
 
Nawty said:
Weeeelll...

They are both rather centrally framed, not so bad with the fox but the wild cat composition doesn't really work for me. Some fill flash with the cat would have worked nicely against the backlight, or if you don't have the flash power or don't want to to use flash then upping some shadows (and lowering blacks) in PP would produce a more balanced image of the subject IMHO.

The fox has incredibly low detail and, especially, contrast which I guess is caused by an oblique sun or maybe shooting through a small gap (as you said you did).

But like I said, getting caught up in technicalities isn't the point of capturing such moments but getting the other things right make the difference between a nice capture and a great photo :)
Click to expand...



Ultimately I don't mind criticism since it's usually something I've considered already and decided against or decided that I liked the shot anyway. If it's something I missed then it's something to learn from which is good.

Tbh I wouldn't personally like to use flash on animals if I could help it. I guess if I was being hired to do a shoot or something for a pet then I might ask if it was ok, but, for what is effectively a wild animal then I'd rather not. Not sure what the policy a the BWC is but that was just my judgement (even though I'm sure it would help technically :)

The cropping was chosen despite the central positioning. I tried various crops with both of these and the cat never looked to me when I moved him a bit further either way. The fox was cropped a bit tighter to remove some distractions but again it never looked right to me in any other position but then again I can't say I spent ages on PP either.

The fox is pretty low contrast due to where the light source was and whilst you generally shouldn't shoot into the sun like this, it's good to break the rules now and then. I picked the shot mostly for the angle I was able to get with the foreground and background being nicely blurred and without any real transition. It's just blur and then subject and then more blur :) I was also shooting through the fence at an angle and not right up against it due to the angle so this could explain a bit more lack of contrast and it also explains the funny markings in the bokeh rings hehe.

The Scottish Wildcats are cool but I can't help but think they could be replaced by normal cats without people noticing for a while lol.
 
Phal said:
whilst you generally shouldn't shoot into the sun like this, it's good to break the rules now and then.
Click to expand...
If the situation and setting is right, but you would have been shooting through the wire into the sun, which has caused that haze. Shooting through the fence is going to affect the end shot to some extent, but it's definitely not a great rule breaking effect in my opinion here. Saying that, the cat's expression is nicely caught and I quite like the fox, but not the haze ;)
 
new2me said:
, but you would have been shooting through the wire into the sun, which has caused that haze.
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Absolutely ;)

As for the crops, the cat is looking up and right of frame,
the fox is looking pretty much off centre, right of frame.
The norm is to leave negative space for the animal to either walk into,
or look into.
You could try "balancing" it by lopping off a chunk of negative space
on both, left of frame.
But your are also right, its good to break a few rules now and again,
as I have said before if you try and please everyone,
you end up not pleasing yourself (y)
 
Cobra said:
Absolutely ;)
as I have said before if you try and please everyone,
you end up not pleasing yourself (y)
Click to expand...


Yeah sometimes I think I get bored of framing everything in the same way and end up trying things for the sake of it hehe.
 
The pose on the cat is really good agree about the framing but do see what you mean about wanting to try different things, maybe a portrait vertical format:)
 
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