Animals #469

A really lovely shot of this juvenile barbary ape, beautiful lighting, and the framing of the animals between the trees is great. The photographer has done some skilful post processing to remove distracting greens, and the focus on the main subject benefits as a result.

Quite the little star! The portrait of Frank is very good, shot down at hislevel, and a very thoughtful pose. The background is quite distracting, with the orange on the left, and the lit tunnel on the right, and I'd also be tempted to go for a square crop, which I think could work well.

I like this image, I like the context within which the cow is positioned, which I think adds a lot to animal portraiture. It's good to be reminded of the life that these beautiful creatures lead, in farmyards around the world. The sky has been darkened, but the way this has been done has left an unkempt dark ridge along the top of the roof, and at the corner of the building, and needs to be handled a little better.

Such a clean and engaging animal portrait, and an excellent use of tonal range to showcase the beautiful white bird. When nothing distracts from the main subject like this it is usually an attention to detail on the part of the photographer, and not by chance.

My winning shot in this New Joiners 'Animals' contest. "Contestant, ready? Gladiator, ready?' The tension and drama makes the shot, but it's also a fabulous composition, nicely cropped and lovely muted colours. I'm not normally a fan of adding white borders, but I think maybe it works here.

This is a very atmospheric and interestingly lit shot, and the colour of the sky, set against the colour of the horses, works very well. I really wanted to see a larger image file so I could check the sharpness of the main subject, and it was really only this that stopped this being a Top 10 image for me.

Tons of drama and a well captured moment. I've never seen salmon looking this brightly coloured, which really adds to the shot. It's quite a tight crop, and personally i prefer a little more context to animal portraits, and I feel that it's also been a little too over-sharpened, which distracts from the focus on the subject.

Lovely crop, beautiful subject and nicely blurred background and foreground that keeps us focussed 100% on this handsome chap.