Animals from Behind (no humans)

Nice photo of a wonderful family of cheetahs. The crop is slightly asymmetrical, an artistic choice of the photographer that does not distract as much as the blades of grass on the left. The author does not like post-processing, evidently, and their choice should be respected, but a little bit of retouching on the bottom left/center part of the photo would have improved the result, in my opinion. In any case, a well-deserved Top 10 in this contest.

Baby felines are always nice, inspiring a feeling of tenderness which is probably not completely justified, considering the size and the strength that even a baby lion can show. What I especially love of this photo is the huge paw, evidenced in the raised front left leg, which reminds of the fact that lions are, and will be forever, the Kings/Queens of the Forest!

Wonderful photo. I love the contrast between the sharp texture of the elephant skin in the foreground, contrasting with the dust cloud in the midlle layer, and then the out-of-focus background. The contrast between light and shadow is fantastic. Either luck or skill of the photographer (or both) this is a wonderful photo, deserving a third place in this contest.

What I love in this photo is the ability of the author in managing the different layers (ground, buffalos, trees, and sky) in a seamless way. I would have tried to cut the rightmost animal to recover some space on the left, but I understand the intention of the photographer to render the curved path of the trail. The dust spots on the sensors should have been removed in post-production.

YOZ (Yet Other Zebras) :-) But the photo is nice, good timing in catching the synchronized movement of their heads and tails, and nice contrast with the green of the background. Nothing to say about cropping, any other format would not have improved the beauty of the photo. Well-deserved Top 10 in this contest.

I love this photo. Apparently simple, the beauty of B&W enhances the texture of the skin of the animals. The baby elephant is well centered, the background is not disturbing, maybe a slightly different cropping would have been beneficial, but the overall result is nevertheless amazing. Well-deserved First Place in my ranking.

Wonderful colors and well-defined details in this nice photo, which fits well the contest brief. The picture is probably not perfect as a naturalistic photo, but in the context of this contest the fact that the bird's face and beak are not visible becomes a definite plus, that makes this picture standing out among many other bird images in this contest.

Nice picture of another animal drinking, in this case the author captured the clumsy stance of the giraffe in a funny picture, which suffers a bit of the dark background of the plants and the cane fence at the right, distracting the attention from the main subject. However, it still deserves a position in the Top 10 photos, perfectly respecting the contest brief.

Wonderful photo. The photographer took the right moment for freezing in time the Grizzly bear while he was shaking out the water, which fills nicely the frame. Unfortunately, the photo does not fully comply with the contest brief, since it depicts the subject almost by profile, in a three quarters view at the best. The beauty of the photo and the skill of the photographer deserve a commendation, in any case.

The photographer took the right moment, catching the deer 'flying' during their run. Nice picture, although the contrast between animal and background is not exceptional. I would have tried a different cropping, but probably the photographer already tried and fond this aspect ratio to give the best sense of the run. I found the signature distracting, the photo does not benefit of this foreign element.

Nice idea, but the contrast between the in focus and out of focus parts of the photo is excessive, in my opinion. The post production of the photo should have been less evident, to give a more realistic feeling to the picture while maintaining the separation between the planes of the photo.

This beautiful picture stands out for the important, although not intrusive, post-production work made by the photographer. The strong impact of the photo overshadows the fact that it's not fully complying with the contest brief, which was not allowing humans in the frame. Not for the Top 10, but it surely deserves commendation.

Just one word. Elegant. There are two photos of animals drinking in this Top 10, I put this one in second position for the symmetry and the contrast between the animal's skin and the water, that the photographer managed to render at the best. Nice photo, perfectly fitting the brief of the contest.

This is a good photo, extremely difficult mastering the shades of dark, a black horse on a black background. The photographer, in my opinion, remained one step below perfection, the eye of the horse and the harness do not stand out as it was probably in their intention. In any case, a noteworthy photo which deserves commendation.