There is a magic to your pets, even when the photos don’t work out as you expect. That photo you really hoped would be amazing and isn’t, what do you do?
- The first thing you do is stop being disappointed and take a breath.
There is often something you can do with your photo. Even a simple crop can rescue a photo. Turning it from a disaster to something you can share on your social media account or post on a blog.
An example of a photo rescue
As it is winter here in New Zealand, the light is not as strong as it is during the summer months. The photographs I took of the black kittens did not come out very well and, as you can see here, the only thing you can see on the fur is a cat collar.
- I could have increased the ISO, and tinkered with shutter speeds but my aim was to try photos without a lot of ‘settings adjustments’. The trip was meant to be a relaxing break, this time!
Lots of overexposed background, a bit of customer’s elbow and an alert looking black kitten. At first, I was disappointed but I left the photo for a while and thought about what I could do.
If you are in the same position, I suggest you do the same. Walk away for a while, make a cup of tea or coffee and leave your photo alone.
I returned to the photo a couple of days later to look at it with fresh eyes.
The Silhouette Suprise
I experimented with cropping and removed the mystery customer’s elbow and some of the white space off the top. Then I opened the Affinity Photo program and adjusted several of the sliders in the Black and White filter.
Without spending too much time fussing, I was able to soften the extreme background a bit and transform the black cat almost into a papercut picture or a silhouette surprise.
STOP PRESS
I have won a Muse® Medallion, and the special Kuykendall Image Award for my photos in the Cat Writers 2019 Communications contest.
Smartphones can take great photos too.
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Marjorie is a blogger, award-winning photographer and smartphone moviemaker who loves cats.
Congratulations on your big win. We always like taking photos of our sweet ones and now we know what we can do if the photo doesn’t come out right and what effects we could use to make it better. Thanks for the share. Have a great rest of your day.
CONGRATS on your awards Marjorie, how cool is this !!! 🙂 ♥♥
The peeps and I are so, so, SOOO PROUD of you, my friend. CONGRATULATIONS!!! You definitely deserve that award. PURRS
Lovely photo and advice!
Congrats on your Awards! Sadly, we cannot see any of your photos on your blog while on our iPad. We don’t know why that is.
Not sure why that should be. Have you checked the settings in your iPad? I can’t find anyone with a similar issue.
Congrats on your medallion! Well deserved. XO
That is such a striking image! Huge Concatulations on your well-deserved honors!
Concatulations on your win! Very well deserved.
We are starting to learn how to get our photos to look much better with PaintShop. Love your tips thanks so much
Wee love yor fotoss Miss Marjorie…which kitty iss this? (Sorry LadyMew furgot!!)
**purrss** BellaDharma
That photo certainly did turn out well in the end! Congratulations on your Muse Medallion and the Kuykendall Image Award. That is so exciting! 🙂
The joys of Black and White! Lovely shot, even when it wasn’t quite as you thought.
Definitely recommend Affinity as there is sooo much you can do and the one-off price is awesome.
Congrats on your awards – the timing of the ceremony was way to catnap UNFRIENDLY for us.
Purrs
ERin
Looks totally purrfect to us!