Hi Beth,

Welcome to the forum.

You did a good job of getting most of the coat detail in this black and white cat. These 'tuxedo' cats are like shooting a wedding where you usually have to sacrifice detail in either the whites or the blacks.

I think a square crop to a head/front paws shot would work better here, as that is the key focus of the image. The body, when the back legs are cropped out does not add much interest to the photo.

The on camera flash that you used is fairly harsh and unnatural. If you can't get the flash off of the camera, then natural light would be the way to go. Just my opinion.

The shadow from the ear on camera right is distracting and could be fixed in Photoshop. I have no problem in changing background colors, I just find that it takes me forever to do it convincingly. Where I draw the line is that I never 'change the animal' or else no one would believe my photographs. Yes, I clean things up...eye boogers, ear wax...and I sometimes use parts of one shot in another shot to open the eyes or whatever...but I never change the eye color or the coat color or clone in parts from a different animal.

I would also try to work the angle or the crop so that the injury to the kitty's leg is not so noticeable.

I hope this isn't too critical on your first post...just trying to offer a serious critique.