New Joiners - Animals #575

I'm a bit of a sucker for this type of overhead, helicopter perspective, taken using a drone. I love how the shadow's of the subject have become more of a feature than the subject itself. This is a very graphic image with lots of texture, shapes and interest. Well visualised and captured.

Japanese macaques, or snow monkeys, are popular subjects and understandable so. I love the out of focus blobs of snow in the background, which help convey the conditions and also create an implied frame for the subject. The animal's eyes and wet fur are beautifully sharp and the vertical format suits the subject perfectly. A lovely portrait.

What a lovely image compositionally, with the two cormorants creating a nice, balanced frame. I love the interaction here with one bird apparently giving the other a mouthful! The light sky creates a high-key look. I do wonder if this image would look even better converted to black and white.

Flight photography is always challenging and not the easiest subject to attempt with a brand new camera and lens combination. But the photographer has done well here, capturing the kite sharply in flight. I would crop this image slightly, though, to remove the metal wheel (and also the colourful, but distracting blossom) in the bottom of the frame.

Elephants are such impressive, iconic creatures that it is no surprise that we normally see them filling the frame. But I like this environmental study. The rain adds diffusion and atmosphere - and the conversion to mono enhances the mood further. I love the blurry streaks of rain, but I might remove that one obvious and distracting white blob on the left of the image-space.

I think the photographer has done very well in this instance to find order within such a busy environment. They have carefully positioned themselves so that they could use the branches to frame their subject. There is some obvious (green) colour fringing (Chromatic Aberration) along some of the trees, which should be removed during editing using lens correction.

Another sweet, well-timed image. I love the interaction here as the cubs play through a gap in the fence, almost creating a mirror image of each other. The white paint is a little bright and distracting, so I might be tempted to reduce its brightness in post processing.

This is a very sweet photograph and beautifully captured. The low viewpoint and telephoto length have helped throw the foreground grass and background out of focus, ensuring the cub pops from its surroundings. It is nicely composed, with the fox staring into all that lovely negative space. Congratulations to the photographer for spending time with this family, patiently observing them, and waiting for opportunities like this.

This is a nicely focused shot of a very photogenic subject. Technically, the subject is too central in the frame in my opinion, and the dark shadow across its eye and nostril is a little distracting - the use of a reflector, flash or LED light would have remedied this. The frog's surroundings are very obviously artificial. I'm guessing this is a captive frog in a glass tank, and hopefully not a wild subject that has been moved.

This is a lovely image of an elegant bird. I like the way the branch behind the subject bends and mimics the shape of the egret's back. You could argue that the subject is a little too central in the frame and needs more negative space in front of it to absorb the bird's gaze. But it remains a well captured and effective shot.

This is a good first attempt at some animal action photography with a new camera. The image is well-timed, with the dog mid-run with all four paws off the ground. Focusing and composition are good too, and any dog owner would be pleased with an image of this quality of their pet. Well done.

Wow - that is quite the catch! This heron looks like its has surprised itself with the size of its dinner! I love the warm sunlight catching the reeds in the background - it creates lovely atmosphere. The crop feels a bit awkward to my eye, with the heron cut off just above its legs. I think either a wider or tighter composition would probably look more intentional. However, overall, I think this is a very well timed and captured image.

I do like environmental shots, showing nature in context. Most photographers would instinctively attach a long lens and try to capture just one or two birds in close-up. But this wider view, taken on a mobile phone, does an excellent job of showing this small flock of birds feeding on berries in freezing conditions. I love the contrast of the bright red fruit and golden plumage against the white, snowy backdrop. This shot is definitely a 'grower'.

I think this is a very clever, well composed shot. The photographer has creatively employed a shallow depth of field to intentionally throw the background animal out of focus, while sharply focusing on the closest deer. Doing so has created balance, context and a much more effective and eye-catching result.