Humane Society Pictures

jmtonkin · Feb 1, 2012

I went to the Humane Society today to take some pictures of their animals. All of their dogs are at foster homes during the week, so I only got to work with the cats. I found them to be VERY friendly. So friendly, in fact, that it was quite difficult to take pictures of them. I'm looking for some CC on these! Thanks!

#1.

I love the colors in this picture. Also, I feel that the DOF is great and the focus is right on. I only wish that his face wasn't so centered...

#2.

This one is my second favorite of the day. I really like the catch lights in his eyes, the color and the focus. I find the shadow behind his left ear distracting...

#3.

Even though the white is blown out on his chest, this is my favorite of the day.

#4. (Last one, I promise!)

I love the contrast between these two guys. Things I don't like: The window ledge in the frame and how his left eye is in the shadows.

I'm very pleased with how these turned out. They are definitely better than the camera phone pictures they have on their page. Thanks for the CC!

dxqcanada · Feb 1, 2012

Were you volunteering your time/skills/images to them ? I have been wanting to do so for some of our local shelters.

What are you using for lighting ?

greybeard · Feb 1, 2012

Very nice, I love cats.

blackrose89 · Feb 1, 2012

Awww I would love to do this! You did a good job making them appear as if they're in a home enviroment!

I love the contrast as you said in #4 and I think this has the clearest focus. Could just be me, but I think the eyes in the others are the slightest bit off the eyes. You might try sharpening them up a bit.

BlackSheep · Feb 1, 2012

Definitely much better than the snapshots usually found on shelter websites - well done! I bet the shelter staff will be very pleased.

I really like photos 2 and 3 as they are (FWIW photo 3 doesn't look too blown out to me, I can see fur detail on his chest).
For photos 1 and 4, did you consider cropping them closer? They look good as they are, but IMO would look nice with some of the extra background removed.

jmtonkin · Feb 1, 2012

dxqcanada said:
Were you volunteering your time/skills/images to them ? I have been wanting to do so for some of our local shelters.

What are you using for lighting ?

Yes, I was just volunteering my time/skills/images to them. There are studies showing that better pictures lead to higher adoption rates. I just showed up today with my camera, filled out a volunteer form and started taking pictures. My girlfriend went with and did more of the dirty work. As for lighting, this is all natural light. This aspect is what concerned me the most, but when I got there, it was actually very nicely lit. Unfortunately, I had to bump the ISO pretty high so I could have a fast shutter speed. These guys were all over the place and were quite hard to take pictures of.

blackrose89 said:
Awww I would love to do this! You did a good job making them appear as if they're in a home enviroment!

I love the contrast as you said in #4 and I think this has the clearest focus. Could just be me, but I think the eyes in the others are the slightest bit off the eyes. You might try sharpening them up a bit.

In all my research on this genre, everything has said to make them look at home. I tried my best to achieve this and I'm glad it showed!

KenC · Feb 1, 2012

You could try some plain old bounce flash. The results would look pretty similar to what you have and you could freeze any motion much better at lower ISO.

jmtonkin · Feb 1, 2012

I agree, that would have been ideal, but, as the poor college student I am, I cannot afford one just yet. I'm planning on using my tax returns to purchase one!

jmtonkin · Feb 1, 2012

BlackSheep said:
For photos 1 and 4, did you consider cropping them closer? They look good as they are, but IMO would look nice with some of the extra background removed.

Thought on these crops?

#1.

#4.

GeorgieGirl · Feb 1, 2012

These came out really nice!

BlackSheep · Feb 1, 2012

jmtonkin said:
BlackSheep said:

For photos 1 and 4, did you consider cropping them closer? They look good as they are, but IMO would look nice with some of the extra background removed.

Click to expand...

Thought on these crops?

#1.

#4.

I like them! Maybe leave a bit more space around the cat in photo 1, though. It feels a bit tight around his chin.

jmtonkin · Feb 1, 2012

I'm still up in the air on the crops...I'm going to sleep on it!

blackrose89 · Feb 1, 2012

I think the prospective crops are too tight. Especially in the second example. I personally would very slightly crop them. The extra space shows off the home environment which is what you fought to achieve. Too tight a crop might lose some of the homey aspects. But really, I think #4 is perfect. It's not just about showcasing the animal, it's about showcasing the animal in a household emviroment.

o hey tyler · Feb 1, 2012

Yes, your prospective crops are very tight. Especially in 1. You can probably move the crop to the bottom edge of the frame in #2 though.

jmtonkin · Feb 1, 2012

Right now, I'm leaning towards leaving the crops...Unless someone wants to show me what they mean and I like what I see...But I agree with blackrose, I worked pretty hard to achieve that "in-home" feeling and cropping too much takes away from that.