Another Cougar Shot

[blackrose89]

Taking pictures of an animal and composing a photograph are two different things, things I am still learning. Of course you can't walk up to a cougar and get him to pose for you, photography is about using what's in front of you to compose a successful image, and with some subjects, it can be near impossible. Ultimately a photo fail is a photo fail (not saying this is a photo fail) for its the final product that is being presented, Obstacles you might have faced don't make up for what is lacking in the photo.


Just some food for thought!

 

[LightSpeed]

Taking pictures of an animal and composing a photograph are two different things, things I am still learning. Of course you can't walk up to a cougar and get him to pose for you, photography is about using what's in front of you to compose a successful image, and with some subjects, it can be near impossible. Ultimately a photo fail is a photo fail (not saying this is a photo fail) for its the final product that is being presented, Obstacles you might have faced don't make up for what is lacking in the photo.


Just some food for thought!

Would you mind showing us an image of your cougar shot to demonstrate what you mean?
Thank you in advance.

 

[blackrose89]

Just guest at my favorite Eatery giving my opinion on the appetizers!

Taking pictures of an animal and composing a photograph are two different things, things I am still learning. Of course you can't walk up to a cougar and get him to pose for you, photography is about using what's in front of you to compose a successful image, and with some subjects, it can be near impossible. Ultimately a photo fail is a photo fail (not saying this is a photo fail) for its the final product that is being presented, Obstacles you might have faced don't make up for what is lacking in the photo.Just some food for thought!

Would you mind showing us an image of your cougar shot to demonstrate what you mean?Thank you in advance.

 

[LightSpeed]

Just guest at my favorite Eatery giving my opinion on the appetizers!

I see.
Could this possibly denote that, "I've never ever tried a wildlife shot and have no idea what complications I might run into while I sit here and preach about composition"?
And again don't get mad at me.
I know how fragile women can be. After all, I'm very well acquainted with Tyler.

Now kiss me. You know you want to.

 

[naptime]

In her element, wouldn't you expect to see her behind some foliage?

good point... it does make me feel like it's in it's natural element.

though, TO ME, the leaves are a bit distracting.. maybe it's the focus?

i like it though

better than the big cat i'll be posting shortly

How can I get the leaves to remain, but with them more out of focus so they aren't as distracting? I assume changing my DOF? Deeper? Shallower? (my guess is shallower)

i have no clue.

just getting into this.

i know what my eye sees.. but i don't know how to make the camera see it

 

[LightSpeed]

good point... it does make me feel like it's in it's natural element.

though, TO ME, the leaves are a bit distracting.. maybe it's the focus?

i like it though

better than the big cat i'll be posting shortly

How can I get the leaves to remain, but with them more out of focus so they aren't as distracting? I assume changing my DOF? Deeper? Shallower? (my guess is shallower)

i have no clue.

just getting into this.

i know what my eye sees.. but i don't know how to make the camera see it

It will come. Trust me. The more you get into this, you'll see what I mean.

 

[Robin Usagani]

I was hoping for a different cougar. The ones in the suburbia habitat.

 

[bazooka]

For this to work IMO it woud need a lot more leaves and only his eyes visible, but that's just me!

Of course he can control that because the cougar is going to comply.
Now here is what would have made this work.
If the OP had walked straight up to the cougar, introduced himself, and then asked the cougar if he would mind posing for a few shots.

And of course there is the other approach.
Take what you can get on a wild animal. Kinda looks like that's what happened. Zoo or not.
It works for me.

You seem to have this idea that just because you can't control something means that it should be excused. I don't get it. If I open a pizza shop (nods to naptime) but I don't have any dough on hand so I instead make my pizzas out of mud because it's all I have, should my patrons just accept it and eat up?

Patron: "Umm, this pizza is made out of mud. I'm not eating this crap."
Me: "Oh no, you don't understand. We ran out of dough because the delivery truck broke down so mud is all we have."
Patron: "I don't care why you don't have any dough, I don't want a mud pizza."
Me: "No no, it's ok, mud pizza is fine because we don't have any control over it. I mean, can you imagine me walking up to the truck and saying, 'Hey truck, how are you? Would you please fix yourself for me so I can get my pizza dough delivered?'"
Patron: ...

 

[tsipma]

For this to work IMO it woud need a lot more leaves and only his eyes visible, but that's just me!

Of course he can control that because the cougar is going to comply.
Now here is what would have made this work.
If the OP had walked straight up to the cougar, introduced himself, and then asked the cougar if he would mind posing for a few shots.

And of course there is the other approach.
Take what you can get on a wild animal. Kinda looks like that's what happened. Zoo or not.
It works for me.

You seem to have this idea that just because you can't control something means that it should be excused. I don't get it. If I open a pizza shop (nods to naptime) but I don't have any dough on hand so I instead make my pizzas out of mud because it's all I have, should my patrons just accept it and eat up?

Patron: "Umm, this pizza is made out of mud. I'm not eating this crap."
Me: "Oh no, you don't understand. We ran out of dough because the delivery truck broke down so mud is all we have."
Patron: "I don't care why you don't have any dough, I don't want a mud pizza."
Me: "No no, it's ok, mud pizza is fine because we don't have any control over it. I mean, can you imagine me walking up to the truck and saying, 'Hey truck, how are you? Would you please fix yourself for me so I can get my pizza dough delivered?'"
Patron: ...

How is that even a comparison? The criticism of where the cougar's eyes are though a valid point is easily dismissed given the fact that there is no possible way to direct the subject. I understand that the picture would have been better had the cougar been looking directly at me, but I think Lightspeed and my position is that you really shouldn't take points away due to an impossibility.

 

[Overread19 7]

My view is two fold:

1) if this was a shot of a wild cougar it would be a bit like walking into a fishing competition without a fish and talking about the massive one that got away. You've got a story, you've had an experience and those factors build around the photo itself; but the shot that you got (or in the case of the fish that you didn't get) is lacking when its taken aside and viewed only as a photo itself.
You can't take the experience away and for many wildlife shooters the shot would be a memory keeper of the experience; it would still not make it into nat geo.
At best it would be an environmental shot - one that shows a part of the creature in its habitat (though I'd argue that in this example there is not quite enough habitat to build a story around that). As part of a series depicting and explaining cougars it could work - but again its not nat geo, its not a stunning shot that stands on its own.

2) Its a zoo shot, provided you've the time (and I fully understand that when out with family you don't have the time to dedicated in the same way) you should be able to work and practice and, in the end, wait for the subject to move into the right position (or at least into the best possible position on the day).


In the end I think that foreground blurring is a very difficult thing to pull off, especially when it starts to encroach upon the main subject and focus of the shot. It distracts the viewer, you want to push past and see the shot beneath it and thus it fails to work much of the time.
The example explained above, that of all blur with just the eyes clear in focus, is an example of where it could work; in that case you'd have the blurred foreground forming a natural boarder around the point of interest (the eyes). In the example here we've the leaves splotchy over the subject, no order, no form no real leading lines so it interferes with the composition.

 

[bazooka]

1) if this was a shot of a wild cougar it would be a bit like walking into a fishing competition without a fish and talking about the massive one that got away. You've got a story, you've had an experience and those factors build around the photo itself; but the shot that you got (or in the case of the fish that you didn't get) is lacking when its taken aside and viewed only as a photo itself.
You can't take the experience away and for many wildlife shooters the shot would be a memory keeper of the experience; it would still not make it into nat geo.
At best it would be an environmental shot - one that shows a part of the creature in its habitat (though I'd argue that in this example there is not quite enough habitat to build a story around that). As part of a series depicting and explaining cougars it could work - but again its not nat geo, its not a stunning shot that stands on its own.

This is probably a better similie than my pizza shop. Don't take the mindset of "I did the best I could so that must mean it's ok". Sometimes, especially with wildlife, nature, or anything else outside of our control, the best we can do still sucks. There's nothing wrong with that, but it still sucks. So yes, I think that if the cougar is wearing a pink bow on it's head... it's something you can't control, but it still looks stupid and ABSOLUTELY takes away from the photo.

This happens with landscapes too. I've read many books by professional landscape photographers. They go out, the weather doesn't do what they want, so they don't get any shots. They don't print out the subpar photos that they took and try to sell them saying "I wished it would have done this, but it didn't, so here you go."

Did you do the best you could with what you had? You may very well have. Noones knocking your lack of effort, or at least I'm not. But photos stand alone. They must. We do not judge your photo by the amount of effort you put into it. We judge your photo by what we see inside the frame.

 

[Overread19 7]

You had to mention distracting pink adornments didn't you

 

[bazooka]

Furthermore... when we say things like "It would be better if".... this isn't us saying you should have taken more control of a situation when you are obviously at a zoo and have no control over the subject. The "It would be better if"'s are tools to put in your toolbox for when you DO have control of the situation OR maybe you'll come across a different situation that you recognize..... "Hey, that looks very much like that one time only better.. I should shoot that!" It's about learning to see.... learning to recognize a good shot, or a potentially good shot.

I hope you take these kinds of comments and file them into your mind for further creative use, instead of taking them as critiques of your work ethic.

 

[bazooka]

LoL overread, I recognize that dog from somewhere! :thumbup:

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

They don't print out the subpar photos that they took and try to sell them saying "I wished it would have done this, but it didn't, so here you go."

Amen.