Greetings from the Critique Club
A lot of rich, warm color here! The oranges, greens, and browns complement each other well, and give the photo a relaxing, inviting feel. The landscape format and mostly horizontal and vertical lines enhance this mood. In contrast, the cat itself is on edge, it's body language warning you it doesn't want to be bothered. (This message comes through even without reading your comments!) It's this tension between the seeming relaxing photo of an unrelaxed subject that makes this photo work.
The lighting is great, giving a few subtle shadows (nothing harsh) and putting a catchlight in the cat's eyes. Exposure is perfect (or at least well compensated in the raw conversion). Focus is on the foreground grass rather than the subject, to the detriment of the photo.
I really like the depth of this photo. It has a definite foreground, midground, and background, which gives it a nice 3-dimensional look. This is due in large part to the distinct green/orange/brown colors at the different locations that separate them well. But also to the shallow depth of field; using a smaller aperture (like f/10) would have put the cat in acceptable focus even though the camera picked the grass to focus on, but would have also decreased the depth.
I personally think the composition would be improved by cropping off about 20% off the right side and 10% off the bottom. Seems to me to give the photo better balance. I would also increase the midtone contrast a bit (a standard "S-curve" in curves) to highlight the face more and make the photo "pop".
I'm undecided about the purple flower. It does add a nice splash of contrasting color, but I don't think that color really fits with the rest of the colors. (But then, I'm color blind, so take that opinion for what it's worth!)
My wife just walked by, so I asked her opinion. She loves the purple accent, which is desaturated enough it doesn't clash. She also prefers your crop to my more drastic suggestion! Goes to show you can't please everyone. (Especially with a cat!) |
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