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Photo Preparation
& Presentation
I believe
the single most important aspect of any cattery design is the presentation
of the photos of your cat. Too often I see photos on cattery websites
that make me cringe - they are too small, out of focus, poorly cropped
or an "off" color.
I will
prepare your cat's photos to present them at their very best. I can correct
the color, lighten or darken, remove distracting elements such as stray
whiskers, correct red eye, and remove or soften backgrounds to allow the
beauty of your cat's photo to come alive.
I frequently
see photos on cattery websites that obviously look like something has
been altered on them. I think that any changes to a photo should be subtle
- that the actual cat in a photo should never LOOK like something has
been done to it.
Grooming
issues such as removing distracting hairs or minimizing staining are changes
I willing make to a photo. I will not make changes to a photo that misrepresent
what the cat actually looks like - including such things as improving
eye color, making eyes smaller, etc.
Example 1
Correcting
Exposure
This candid
photo was far too dark to be of any real use in promoting this beautiful
kitten.
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The
exposure was corrected and the contrast was increased to reveal an
adorable photo of the kitten for sale. |
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Example 2
Correcting
Contrast
This is a beautiful
photo of a stunning Egyptian Mau as it appeared on old website I
was asked to re-design. The photo is a bit dull in tone and doesn't
really represent the cat's true colors.
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The photo was
sharpened and the color and contrast was corrected to better represent
the cat's beautiful pattern.
The plain background
was replaced with a taupe texture and Egyptian hieroglyphics were
added that matched the new website design.
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Example 3
Improving
Sharpness
This is the
actual image that was used on a website that I was asked to re-design
completely. The image was too small, the color was dull, it was
unsharp and the framing and cropping did nothing to compliment the
cat.
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Shown slightly
smaller than on the actual website, the photo was re-scanned, brightened,
warmed up and the cat's call name was added to balance the empty
area on the background.
A subtle drop
shadow replaced the former frame to make the entire photo seem to
"float" off the page.
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Example 4
Proper Cropping
This is an
image from another website I was asked to re-design. The cropping
is so tight that the cat appears crowded within the frame.
While the frame
is beautiful, it is too strong for the image - you notice the frame
first, not the cat.
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By allowing
a looser crop, and simplifying the frame, the beauty of the cat
is allowed to take center stage.
More details
in the face were recaptured by adjusting the contrast and color.
This image
is shown smaller than it appears on the actual website.
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Example 5
Removing
Distracting Hairs
This is the
original scan of the photo used on the website's homepage. The photo
is slightly out of focus and has several marks on the background.
The whiskers of the cat are very distracting.
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The photograph
was sharpened and the distracting whiskers were removed.
The background
was cleaned up, the color corrected and the photo sharpened.
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Example 6
Removing
the Background
Who can resist
this adorable kitten photo? But the background was distracting.
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The
far background was removed while still retaining details of each hair.
The image was then used in the title of the kitten page for the website.
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Example 7
Removing
the Background (2)
This small
photo was all we had to work with to create a head shot of this
champion Shetland Sheepdog.
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Be
removing and softening the background, an artistic rendition of the
dog's beautiful head was achieved. |
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Example 8
Modifying
The Image
This photo
was so small and dark that I couldn't recover enough details to
improve the image enough to actually use.
Yet I loved
the expression of the cat.
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The photo was
lightened and sharpened and an artistic brush stroke effect added
to create a painting-like portrait of the cat.
The final image
was perfect for use as a stunning image on a splash page.
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