Farm cats, they're cute. C&C please

dMau1986 · Sep 28, 2010

As a newbie to photography, I have been loving my new 50mm f/1.4 and these shots are some fun with it from over the weekend.

To put them in perspective: My girlfriend and I visited an apple orchard over the weekend and there was a litter of farm kittens running around. Because kittens are cute, we were then forced to then adopt a farm kitten of our own later that day. The Calico in the middle few pictures is our new friend, Fiona (Apple...get it?).

Any opinions are welcome, especially the critical. I love to improve. I feel the shots taken indoor are a bit soft, but the lighting was low and...kittens are fast.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

KAikens318 · Sep 28, 2010

I can haz kittenz?????

Lol....they are so cute! I love the DOF, great job!

DxAxN · Sep 28, 2010

I like the look on the cats face in #6...

Derrel · Sep 28, 2010

Fiona is a cutie! I'd rotate the camera to tall on most "standing" cat pics...

Aayria · Sep 29, 2010

Oh my gosh, you totally made my morning! Best thread to start the day with EVER =)

phiya · Sep 29, 2010

You're DOF is pretty good on most of the shots, but on number 2 I would have tried bumping up your FStop value to maybe 2.8 or 3.0 to increase it a bit since part of the kitties face is OOF. Otherwise, the shots all look nice.

jackiejay · Sep 29, 2010

aww thats really nice pictures

jackiejay · Sep 29, 2010

love the 3rd one

dMau1986 · Sep 29, 2010

phiya said:
You're DOF is pretty good on most of the shots, but on number 2 I would have tried bumping up your FStop value to maybe 2.8 or 3.0 to increase it a bit since part of the kitties face is OOF. Otherwise, the shots all look nice.

I believe I have similar shots stopped up a bit, but when I reviewed the photos, this one really stood out to me. While I agree its a bit unconventional to have such a narrow DOF for a shot like this, there is just something about the limited focus on the eyes and the way the rest of the focus drops off so fast that really grabbed my attention...then again thats probably just the novelty of the huge aperature speaking.

Thanks for the compliments all, kitten pictures are kind of like cheating though, hard to mess up

sovietdoc · Sep 29, 2010

I wonder how it would look with different angles. Seems like you're always doing the "rule of thirds". Gets kinda boring after a few shots. Bokeh is pretty nice thanks to f/1.4 lens

phiya · Sep 29, 2010

dMau1986 said:
phiya said:

You're DOF is pretty good on most of the shots, but on number 2 I would have tried bumping up your FStop value to maybe 2.8 or 3.0 to increase it a bit since part of the kitties face is OOF. Otherwise, the shots all look nice.

Click to expand...

I believe I have similar shots stopped up a bit, but when I reviewed the photos, this one really stood out to me. While I agree its a bit unconventional to have such a narrow DOF for a shot like this, there is just something about the limited focus on the eyes and the way the rest of the focus drops off so fast that really grabbed my attention...then again thats probably just the novelty of the huge aperature speaking.

Thanks for the compliments all, kitten pictures are kind of like cheating though, hard to mess up

Either way, all of the shots look nice - I'd just prefer the chin to be in focus on this one. But if you chose that one because you like it, then :thumbup:. Most of my photography is on the walls in my own house anyway, screw what everyone else thinks. :lmao:

Kofman13 · Sep 29, 2010

what camera/lens?

pgriz · Sep 29, 2010

If you are truly a beginner, as you claim to be, then I can only hope there are more of you out there. Even with a cheater subject (ie, cute kittens), you still have nailed the exposures, the focus points, the DOF, and composition. Sure, we could quibble about a few things, but I'd be proud to show these to anyone. Congratulations! Are you really sure you're a newbie?

dMau1986 · Sep 29, 2010

sovietdoc said:
I wonder how it would look with different angles. Seems like you're always doing the "rule of thirds". Gets kinda boring after a few shots. Bokeh is pretty nice thanks to f/1.4 lens

I agree with the "rule of thirds" critique. Because I am so new to photography, I use it as a crutch for framing my shots. I agree its a bit repetitive and I will have to learn new techniques to step outside that boundary.