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Jungle Cat Head
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Jungle Cat Head

by Charlie Baugh

Gallery: Photo ArtPosted July 6, 2013178 views9 comments
Image found in one of my incense smoke shots. Others may not see what I see in this, but what the heck [g]

Comments

9 comments
Comment posted by Michael Cothran on July 6, 2013 at 8:30 AM
Yes, I see the cat. A panther or leopard maybe.
Registered on December 5, 2012, 31 Posts, 730 Comments
Comment posted by Paul Breitkreuz on July 6, 2013 at 10:25 AM
It took me a minute here but I can see it very clearly now, Charlie. Very neat looking capture, I like it..... :cool:
Registered on February 25, 2006, 525 Posts, 8448 Comments
Comment posted by Lon Overacker on July 6, 2013 at 7:45 PM
Excellent Charlie! I too can see a cat's head, but also a dog and even an eagle with an abbreviated beak. This is very cool, I love the colors too.

The only suggestion I have, and it doesn't really show up except in the larger view, is that the black areas are just a bit noisy/muddy. In other words, I'd like to see it truly black. Other than that, I'm really liking this one.

Lon
Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments
Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on July 6, 2013 at 10:15 PM
Thank you for looking.

As to muddy background, Lon it is an ongoing effort to get lighting and background better. I now use a single slave flash below and to the left of the smoke source and try to buffer the flash from the BG. It is better than earlier efforts, but I still get some light reaching the BG. Maybe next year. [g] And thanks for candidness because it stimulates me to improve.
Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments
Comment posted by Lon Overacker on July 7, 2013 at 1:40 AM
Ah Charlie, thanks for the background... (literally eh?) that makes sense and that certainly sounds like a challenge. I think, however, you could compensate with some processing. Of like anything in PS, there's multiple ways of doing things. For one, you could simply set a black point with a curves or levels layer. Tony Kuyper's Darks Triple play would work nicely here.

Nothing wrong here, but I'm always looking for making an image the best it can be, and this one would be worth the tweaking!

Lon
Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments
Comment posted by Marc Ward on July 8, 2013 at 6:29 PM
Charlie,... Love the colors, lines, and flow in this. I didn't see (on my monitor, with 60yr old eyes) the noise/muddiness Lon spoke of until I zoomed in on the large image. Are you shooting RAW or JPG? You also may be able to get rid of some of the background noise by adjusting your levels and doing a slight Gaussian blur.

Of course, I see the dancing woman with the veil,... where the hell are the cats? :wink:
Registered on February 26, 2009, 304 Posts, 1365 Comments
Comment posted by Mark Seaver on July 9, 2013 at 11:16 AM
Cool cat. I sure like the varying amounts of brightness and color in the smoke.
Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments
Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on July 10, 2013 at 11:22 PM
Another excellent smoke image - congrats on the WP!
Sandy
Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments
Comment posted by Morris McClung on July 17, 2013 at 10:46 AM
Congrats on the WP, and I do see the cat. Cool. :cool:
Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments