honeysuckle season, honeysuckle shootout

Sittatunga wrote:

Dors wrote:

ken_in_nh wrote:

A bit much, don't you think?

No, I don't consider 11 photos, much. In fact I like threads with 10-20 photos. When opening a photo thread and see there is less than 2,3 photos I regret to open that thread. I know these flower photos are not stellar but certainly are not bad and may even be enjoyable.

And what's with the badly underexposed, almost blank pictures?

(In captions I wrote implicit apology for those photos.)

But the answer of your question is not so hard to get. Do you think I deliberately shot those terrible photos? Of course you don't. And don't you think how precious it would be for me if someone would show me how to deal with that situation? or at least some tips? You've seen that C&C in the post title and that demand for constructive critique at the bottom of post. Of course you provided me critique and I appreciate that (you were the only one who bothered to) but I think it is a destructive one (it is like in order to eliminate poverty in the world you kill all the poor population ). Do you think here is only for highly skilled people?

(PS people preferences are not the same. There are people that like what you dislike. But I apologize again if you didn't like this thread.)

Ok, I'll have a go at criticising your cat pictures, mainly from the point of view of someone who can't do it properly but has some idea about why.

No. 12 looks as if you were showing that the cat had gone a long way before she realised something was missing, but there's just too much empty space.

I thought this is a good framing but actually it is the opposite!

This is 1 from some consecutive shots with focus problems. I wanted to post them and ask for help but cancelled at the last minute. Kept this one because I thought that animal's silly face might make somebody to smile (also those wrestling kittens). But propper place for these was an ask question thread, I know...

I think it would have worked better if the cat were 2-3x taller, so either you weren't close enough (difficult with cats) or you needed a much longer lens.

No. 13 had an impossible dynamic range and you were several stops underexposed for the cat, which is the main subject.

In the real scene it was darker than this and I wanted to keep the photo faithful to the reality. I am confused. Showing things with cameras as they are in real is hard for me.

The harsh light didn't help. Again, you weren't close enough. I would have exposed for the cat,

bleached out the borders, over exposed the leaves and got much closer, by which time the cat would have run away. (I told you I can't do it.)

The 'black cat in a coal cellar' used to be a cliché for a subject that's impossible to do well. In film days the best approach was Tri-X pushed two or three stops,

Its equivalent now is a large pixel camera like a7s. Is my camera really incapable of shooting these (esp No. 14-16) ? I wish you were here and I could watch and learn.

a very fast lens so that most of the picture was out of focus and high contrast printing to emphasise the grain.

?

Again, Nos. 14-16 are underexposed for the cats (with a subject like this I just have to let the highlights take care of themselves) and the cats are far too small to be the subject of the picture. The extreme effort and difficulty of photographing subjects like these always makes the results more precious to the photographer than to anyone else.

Wise statement and shows keen vision. This and your statement about black cat cliche warmed my heart thanks.

With a bit of luck these cats will get used to the camera and the mother less protective

Two years ago in this same location, a kitten was in a dangerous situation and I thought I should interfere. I grabbed him, he scared and began to cry. Instantly I went under attack from his mother and was awarded with several needle holes on my leg and tiny bite holes from him on my finger.

Last week while I was sitting there to watch them, I kitten thought I was really a statue and came on and hooked her nails on my trousers and came up onto my horisontal leg and knee!  Then unable to find a returning path and scared of the height she began to mourn. Her worry mother came very close and said something in an extremely sweet and passionate voice to her. That was a dangerous situation. Her animal brain is unpredictable and I held my breath and was ready for a quick reaction. Fortunately the kitten pulled the trigger and jumped off. She was greeted by her mother's lickings.

as the kittens get older so that you get better opportunities soon. Get as close as you can. Expose for the cat not the highlights. Get even closer. Good luck.

I read your guides carefully sevaral times. thank you very much!