So, took my father's D40 out for a spin... (cat warning)
 

Well, after almost jumping on the bandwagon myself (for the billionth time) and then realizing I really wouldn't have time for another hobby in the current state of things, I picked up my father's D40 and did some actual shooting for the first time in a really long time.

Anyway... yes, cats. Rather, cat. She hates the camera - tried to claw it a few times. Didn't help that it was in absolutely horrid lighting conditions and I couldn't use the flash if I wanted any chance of getting a shot with her eyes open. I had to underexpose every picture just to maintain a usable shutter speed shooting wide open.

http://www.digitalplunder.net/misc/DSC_0050b.jpg

Abridged EXIF:

Make = NIKON CORPORATION
Model = NIKON D40
Exposure Time = 1/40"
F Number = F4
Exposure Program = Manual
ISO Speed Ratings = 1600
Date Time Original = 2007-12-11 00:21:15
Max Aperture Value = F3.86
Metering Mode = CenterWeightedAverage
Light Source = unknown
Flash = Off
Focal Length = 24mm
White Balance = Auto white balance


I can't decide if I like the way her paw came out. Any suggestions for post processing? I didn't do too much - opened it up in PSCS3 and increased the exposure and brightness a little and took the saturation down just a tad. I did play around with a lot of extremes but nothing really caught my eye (would probably help if the original image was cleaner, it looks pretty dang bad at 100% - not that I was really expecting otherwise).

White balance maybe? Looks like it has a slight yellow cast or maybe it´s just my monitor...http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/blush1.gif

I would see if you could brighten up the right eye.

Nice pic. The D40 is a really nice camera. This is what I have and I recently bought the 70-300mm lense and it's rocking.

Here's some pics I took with it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/julienphoto/




I did some very quick adjustement to your picture if you doesn't mind...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a263/Tyl3n0L/rtu.jpg

It's pretty tough to get an accurate white balance by eyeballing the color adjustments in Photoshop. But I think this is probably a little closer to true color:http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...s/biggrin1.gif

http://home.centurytel.net/mrsdeets/cat.jpg

So the real question is... The Lazy-Boy (if that is) behind the cat is Green or Blue? [rofl]

I think I was a bit biased with the white balance. I was tired (note the time in the EXIF). She was tired (the chair is green, and she was actually sleeping on it). That's part of a fireplace in the background behind the chair. Warm was just more cozy at 1 AM. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...es/tongue1.gif

But I don't know now. The color is definitely more accurate with the adjustments. It's a bit cooler than what I remember seeing myself (the main source of light coming off from the right was a fairly warm lamp), but it is pretty close to what it actually looks like under normal lighting conditions.

As per her right eye, that's also been bothering me. I tried to brighten it up a bit but there's so much noise there I'm finding it kind of difficult.

EDIT: After playing around and editing my post about fifteen times, this is what I came up with. At least for tonight. Just playing around with the color hue and white balance.

http://www.digitalplunder.net/misc/DSC_0050hsb.jpg

Nice pics you've got there. [thumbup]