Waiting

I took this picture quite by accident - just fiddling around with a

new camera. Afterward, I just kept coming back to this picture.

Something about it draws me in. Originally titled "Waiting for the

Midnight Special," but perhaps it's too bright out for a title like

that.

 

The thing is that while I am totally mesmerized by the picture, most

people are completely indifferent to it, and the few that do share my

enthusiasm see an entirely different emotion than I do.

 

Given that I know diddly squat about photographic composition, I'd

like to use this as a starting point for clue collection.

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated, although if the input

is "keep your day job," I would appreciate some elaboration.

A nice picture, especially for an accident! It's attractive (IMHO) because it's not just "a pretty tree" or "a cute furry bunny", but a suggestion that something's going on, that this might be a piece of a story, an event, an atmosphere. All too many pictures are painfully obvious; this one isn't.

 

In terms of composition it's a little low energy because of being so "flat" and so centered. If you'd been doing this on purpose, you might have wanted to play with depth of field (have either the cat or the house less in focus), placement of the cat in the image (an off-center protagonist can add interesting energy), and general angle (if we weren't so directly behind the cat, the eye might be more attracted). On the other hand, this calm and undemanding composition may be exactly what you want in this subject!

 

Note that I don't have an awful lot of clue, myself. But I know what I like! *8)

 

DC

I hope this proves helpfulthe subject of the cat looking out is quite good. In fact, I share your sentiments about it ability to mesmerize. A couple of suggestions that would possible improve the image. The depth-of-field includes the house (the bars are great, but the house is distracting). If you camera allows, perhaps a larger opening would obscure the background and provide an even more intriguing image. Also, the scan look very fuzzy on my monitor. I really like the back lighting and the position of the catgreat job there.

This is an artsy shot. It will either invoke emotions in the viewer, or not. The subject (a cat) is more interesting to some people than others. The bars give one the feeling that he is trapped inside and longs to be outside.

 

It's like poetry in a way. It is neither a boring shot that no one will like, or the kind of shot that will appeal to everyone. It leaves room for the imagination to fill in the blanks.

 

 

 

Cat owners like this picture because we understand that if the cat's awake, 99 times out of 100, it's in the damn window. When it's asleep, it's in a laundry basket (usualy with clean clothes in it!)

Bravo for capturing "A day in the life of a cat". ;-)

In all seriousness, the suggestion of it's longing to go out sums it all up.

The "halo" around the black cat is not only pretty, but a contrast to how someone usually sees a black cat as being bad luck.

If the cat was framed to the left side so that we can see a full view of the window in the background - it probably would make this photo a lot more interesting. But not bad for an accidental shot.

I'll give you my 2 cents worth...indifference may stem from the lack of clear subject, and the slightly cock-eyed composition. Practice keeping verticals and horizontals true. Next, try using a wide aperture and playing around with selective focus. You have perfectly captured your feelings here, but to get the viewer to vibrate in harmony is where good technique comes in. If this were lined up so that the vertical bars or whatever they are were truly vertical, and the cat were sharply focused with the house out of focus (even unrecognizable) this would be a prize-winner. I'll bet you will have ample opportunity for a reshoot. Good luck!

I do appreciate all the feedback. It has been both welcome and helpful.

 

Yes, this was an accidental shot, and I didn't even realize I had something I liked until a day or two later. Since then, I've been trying to reproduce the shot with better equipment and better framing (I particularly like the idea about not centering the cat).

 

I have been wholly unsuccessful at reproducing the shot because Hank's been uncooperative (and one could hardly blame him, given that one recent picture cost him a trip to the kitty dentist), and because I can't seem to get the timing right. Note that the light above is the sun - I think it added to the composition to have the sun virtually over Hank's head. All things considered, I may only get that precise alignment of the sun twice a year.

 

Three notes: Yes, because it was a "found picture," the alignment of the bars is cockeyed. They're the railing to the balcony. The fuzziness of the background is actually due to the screen door, which compensated a little for the fact that I had such a long DOF that virtually everything but the cat was in focus - an error of letting the camera's autofocus do its thing. Well, it was the 8th picture I'd taken with that camera.

 

Finally, the original was seriously washed out due to the backlighting. I tried correcting that by adjusting the gamma and contrast settings in an image editor. Bringing the contrast back out also brought the neighboring building back into prominence, which may have been a mistake.

 

In any case, it was a first, accidental attempt at something artistic, rather than the ultra-sharp hyper-realism that's starting to bore me so much. I don't know if I'm going to make any serious attempt at re-shooting this particular picture, since the spontaneity is long gone. Or, maybe I should, just to use it as an exemplar for practicing my technique.

 

Thanks again.

I enjoy looking at shots such as these. The cat is seen by many people as a symbol of mystery by itself. This picture adds another sense of mystery by making us wonder exactly what it is the cat is looking at out the window. This shot invokes a feeling of curiosity in me because the fact is, we don't know what is grabbing the cat's attention. This is the kind of shot people will either love, or just pass by because some people are too literal to look into the picture to find a deeper meaning or feeling. This shot is intriguing to me because I can see many possible meanings and emotions being drawn from the image.

I'm told my comments are sometimes just "too nice" - that's because I only look at what I like; and this I do enjoy.

 

The above comments notwithstanding this is appreciated :

the graininess of the background, the sunlight on the fur, and the message coming from the bars....perhaps artistically interpreted as the cat being imprisoned in what sapiens term "civilisation." If it is an option, try rotating image about minus 0.7 degrees to straighten it; you won't lose anything important through that.

And, if you are not averse to it, think about getting rid of the top window across the road.

Thereafter the building will cease to be seen as so much of a distraction.

Just MHO, I enjoy the image as it is.