Marcel, is this your cat?

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Elliot87

Senior Member
I took a few photos of yesterday of this cat that's always wandering into my garden and giving me the evil eye. Then I came on Nikonnites and saw Marcel's shot in the monthly photo assignment thread of a very similar looking cat. For some reason that made me want to post them here.

As I'm still new I just thought I ask for some feedback on the shots instead of posting elsewhere as find that a good way to learn.

DSC_0137.jpg

DSC_0133.jpg

DSC_0132.jpg

I know there's not a great deal going on in them, so that might limit what there is to say but any critique is welcome.

Currently I'm only shooting in JPEG as I don't have any softer to post process RAW files. Not prepared to invest in Lightroom just yet, so any recommendations of free/cheap software that will do a job would also be appreciated. Thanks
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
I like the first and third one. The middle picture's cropping could be improved (the pot on the right is distracting and there is too much space in the back of the cat).

As far as using RAW, don't forget that you can use Nikon's View NX software to transfer raw files to jpeg. It always comes with the camera you buy, or you can download it on the net. As for cropping and basic photo editing, there are plenty of software available for free or cheap.

Enjoy your Nikon.
 
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Elliot87

Senior Member
I agree with you completely. I'd cropped the second one previously to remove the pot and get a better composition. The only problem is that it's not the sharpest image as I rushed taking it to capture the yawn and that seemed to show up more when cropped. Probably not a keeper.

I tried downloading the View NX software but I kept getting a message that instillation was interrupted. I'd turned my firewall etc. off as far as I could tell so I'm not sure what the problem was. May try again later.
 
cwgrizz

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Capture NX D is another Nikon RAW processing software that is free for downloading. I use it more than View NX. It can do a lot of PP.
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
cwgrizz said:
Capture NX D is another Nikon RAW processing software that is free for downloading. I use it more than View NX. It can do a lot of PP.
Click to expand...

Capture NX D is free "for now" since it's the beta version. I'll bet you that it will not be free forever.
 
cwgrizz

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
@Marcel the full version of Capture NX D is free and has been since July 15. I know, I downloaded it after having Beta. It doesn't look like Nikon is going to charge for it (for now anyway. Ha!) If I can find the reference again, I will post it.
 
cwgrizz

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Elliot87 said:
Only problem now is figuring out how to use it.
Click to expand...

Yep, like a lot of the photo processing software there is a learning curve. Capture NX D can be learned pretty much by just playing with it. The nice thing is that you never alter your original RAW image and can therefore go back to it if you don't like what you have done. Ha! I'm sure you're like me with nothing but time for playing. Ha!!
 
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