About to pounce.

[Kevin F]

Not posted much lately, but this one pleased me so I thought I'd share it.
C&C welcome as ever.

credits:
Animals from Daz 3d,
Eucalyptus collina by divinity digital,
Birds by TerrAde,
Swallowtails, Dracaena fragrans and Highland grass
sorry but details lost.

[Henry Blewer]

Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom! Nice action shot.

[Kevin F]

Thanks njeneb at least you felt able to comment. One of the reasons I don't post much round here is because of the lack of replies I receive, which is strange when I see the quality of some of the posts and the responses they invoke. One reply in over a hundred viewings is not very encouraging. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for praise, just an honest "other" opinion of my work. I'll take bad or good as both can be constructive, but it seems to be getting very cliquey here lately, with the usual suspects dominating the scene.

[kasalin]

Sweet ground with wonderful animals

[Henry Blewer]

Sometimes I miss posts. Some of my stuff gets little commentary. I look at the views. Most of the regulars know that I rarely go back to a project after I have posted it. This kind of makes bothering with a critique seem not worth the effort. I also keep things rather simple; keeps render times down on my old Pentium 4. Render time is why I rarely rework the images.

[RArcher]

For me the perspective of the image doesn't fit with the subject matter that you are trying to capture.  You have everything very flat and serene yet there is an animal about to attack.  I think you would find that the image would work a lot better if you were to get much closer to the action with perhaps a more interesting camera angle.  I think there is also so much going on in the image that it is really hard to focus on any one element.  If you do continue with the image perhaps define the subject that you want as the main focus and make it the most important element in the image.

[Kadri]

I would change the Sun position for more shadow-contrast. There are 1-2 gras-vegetation and 1 tree objects ;at least it seems so for me.
Use more for variation . The ground and fake stones could use a little more work.

Is this a bad image ? NO! But with better composition and a little more work like Ryan said this could be very good .

And don't loose your faith here. I don't think that anyone(or everyone) comments in the way you think.
Not me for one ! Sometimes it just happens so

[cyphyr]

Ok I'll comment ( heck I've had two comments on my last image !!! two!! lol)
Often I wont comment because I don't have much to add, its already been said and I'm not into all the praise for praise sake you tend to get on some forums.

In general a good and well conceived scene, I would alter the distribution of the trees, add some more variety if you can and have them about 50% of their current density.
I agree with Ryan and Kardi, bring the camera to a more exciting position, maybe behind the cat, so the viewer is "in" on the cats plan. Change the sun, lower it to give more contrast in the scene. The biggest single issue for me beyond this is the texturing on the animals. Is it possible to add some bump and secularity? That would make tem pop into life.

Don't give up, you got a great scene here but it could be a whole lot better!

Richard

[Kevin F]

Thanks for the constructive comments guys - very useful.
The POV comments are interesting - I'll work on that and the amount/type of vegetation. I'm not sure what RArcher means by "so much going on in the image that it is really hard to focus on any one element". Is this a problem? there's not that much going on, just animals grazing and one about to attack.
As for the lighting, I was trying to capture an effect in a painting by David Shepherd of dramatic lighting to the rear of the viewer and dark stormy clouds in the background. I'll work on that but try and keep the original spirit.
Thanks again.

[domdib]

On the subject of commenting - I didn't comment largely because it's not the kind of scene that I have much expertise with, so I don't have much to say, good or bad. And I'm also familiar with the situation of doing what you think is a good image, and then getting little or no feedback. As njeneb says, sometimes people just miss an image. Another thing to consider is that sometimes, people are literally just sharing an image, and aren't too fussed about getting comment.

Two things - I actually rather like the lighting; and to go along with what Ryan said, I'd specifically suggest removing the birds, as they pull your attention away from where "the action" is.

[Kevin F]

and to go along with what Ryan said, I'd specifically suggest removing the birds, as they pull your attention away from where "the action" is.

yep, they've gone!
and thanks for that.

[inkydigit]

Hi Kevin, nice concept, but for me the sky is too dark, and the vegetation is a bit too repetitive, asides from that it is well put together, I would also drop the birds...btw, I know how you feel about lack of comments sometimes, I guess that no news isn't always good news!

[dandelO]

I'd only drag the butterflies a little to the left and down a bit, so they're against the nearer empty foreground, at the moment they're almost mistakable for the animals behind them.
I think the cat looks like it is really about to pounce, right on that knife-edge moment.
I was thinking the same thing about the comments, it's nice to get feedback, good or bad. Silence is unsettling.
To be honest, though, I'm guilty as well of not commenting much to the images section here, I shouldn't really moan.

You should set your goal to animating the entire pounce! From inkling to incisor!

[Kevin F]

O.K. having taken on board most of the suggestions and producing several other versions I've finally decided that this version is the one I'm most happy with. Thanks for all the tips guys.
C&C welcome as usual, but don't expect any further mods

[domdib]

The pose of the cat is excellent - like a coiled spring. And the grasses in front of it look great too.