I wrote up a reflection on one of my favourite images that you might like. I’d be happy to hear your comments or suggestions for the image or the blog post!
https://plantarum.ca/2026/04/20/schoena_critique/
EDIT: Here’s a higher-res version of the image:
Nice cat photo. I wonder if the eyes/face could be sharpened a little more as they appear a little bit softened?
I don’t think I even tried sharpening! I did use a bit of detail recovery with the noise reduction, but I thought sharpening didn’t combine well with noise reduction. Can’t hurt to try I guess.
Thanks!
Yes, it is quite soft.
If you could deconvolute for motion and camera blur and do capture sharpening for lens softness (if you have not already done so), that would make it nicer. Choice of demosaicing method may contribute to softness.
Be subtle though. That would be my recommendation. You already like the shot. A little goes a long way.
What a lovely cat! I agree with Terry - sharpen the eyes. Maybe they were out of focus?
Nice shot.
I personally would probably darken and desaturate the green foliage in the background, so it doesn’t steal attention from the cat.
I don’t feel so, but only guessing. I get in trouble for suggesting playraws but here goes. It would make a nice playraw to see how different people tackle the sharpening of the cat. But ask the cat for permission first if you decide to do that.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, process and the photo of Schoena 
. You inspire me to maybe pick up taking some time to write about photos once more. I should make more time for that…
As a fellow cat-friend I appreciated this paragraph from your blogpost:
“It was a very fleeting moment. Schoena was sitting on the back porch of the cottage as I stepped out the door. This is the look she gave me when she wanted me to follow her on an excursion. At home that usually meant to the bed or the couch for a belly scratch; at the cottage it meant out along the trail to one of her favourite hidey-holes.”
I also love the colours and light here. Great shot! Minor compositonal nitpick: Her whsikers feel a bit close to the left edge for my taste. I also agree with the other posters: The Photo could profit from some local contrast enhancements/sharpening to bring out the finer details in her beautiful fur more. @Terry s idea to make this a playraw sounds like a learning opportunity .
Edit: (also what @hatsnp said in the post below me 
).
Seems like nobody opened the article… the image is soft because the posted image 576x768 Even the most sharpened image ever is gonna be soft at those resolutions. Nice capture
Lol! My apologies, I had resized the image for posting to Mastodon and just used the same version here.
How big should I post for pixls.us? I recall a notice at some point to the effect that they’d prefer us not to post full size images.
This also explains my own confusion on some comments: 576x768 looks just fine on my phone screen, but I don’t imagine that holds on a 24" monitor 
I’ll post the raw when I’m back at my computer this weekend. I haven’t used deconvolution before, I’d love to see how that works.
Well now that you’ve pointed it out, it’s all I can see 
Thanks!
I think a good compromise is around 2000 to 3000 on the largest side. Couple that with 80% jpeg compression and most images are 500-1000KB while looking pretty good
The cat pose is really nice, the eye contact is good. I don’t find any fault with the sharpness, I think its fine and just a matter of taste for the amount you have.
The post through the head is a tiny bit distracting, but the post is dark enough that it isn’t horrible.
Over all, a very nice moment captured. The post processing is tasteful and suits the subject.
If I had to make any change, I’d darken the leafs around the post a bit, and also de-saturate the green leaves in the background a bit, they’re competing for attention with the cat.
There’s a lot to like with this image. We have a similarly colored orange tabby and catching him in a posing mood can be tricky sometimes. Others in here are commenting on apparent softness, but I say it’s difficult to tell because the image isn’t full resolution. It’s possible that downsizing the photo caused some of that. Did you have Capture Sharpening turned on? I’d be interested to see your settings in RawTherapee. Also, I’m wondering if the cat was turning his head at the moment you snapped the shutter. There could be a little motion blur in there. All in all, I like it! Thanks for sharing and being willing to put your work out there for others to critique.
If the low resolution of the image posted here is causing the softness I see then my critique would be to post a higher resolution image. I would want to bring out the texture of the fur to contrast with the softness of the background.
I did look at your blog and was surprised at the color and dullness of the out of camera JPG. Your edit has brought a nice warmth and life to the picture. Your noise reduction has softened the cat for sure. I am not familiar with RT’s options for denoising but in DT there are options to reduce noise and retain edge detail sharpness.
But despite my criticism which is meant to be constructive criticism, because you asked for critiquing, I do like the capture. As the cat’s owner I am sure you are pleased with it.
Thanks all for your comments, I really appreciate your feedback!
I’ve replaced the original image with a higher res version. Sorry for not thinking of that earlier!
Thanks for taking us along - I think there could still be something gained on the “pop” of the photo by working on colour noise and sharpness on the fur. But that really is nitpicking. It is a beautiful photo .
Done (I think, I had some issues with the upload):
This has resolved the issue of sharpness that I mentioned. Thanks @hatsnp for pointing out that the low resolution image was the cause of the softness. I can now say nice edit, especially compared to the cameras JPG.
