New Joiners - Animals #591

What a beautifully atmospheric pooch 'pawtrait'. While I find the foreground stump a bit of a lump and slightly dominant, the rest of the image is very well captured. I love the woodland setting, depth of field and overall mood. The file has been well processed - a very nice image.

Butterflies can be tricky subjects, rarely pausing for long and being easy to disturb. The photographer has done well to get within picture taking distance and capture a sharp frame. However, a slightly lower, eye-to-eye, viewpoint would work better I think - placing more distance between the subject and its background, resulting in a less cluttered backdrop.

This is a very well captured image. I don't think I've previously seen a shot of a gull with a mouthful of sand eels - certainly not of this quality anyway. This is a beautiful sharp and detailed shot. The exposure, timing and technique are spot-on. A really top shot - well done!

I love the simplicity of this shot. The Elephant's texture and detail stands out graphically against that inky black backdrop. The photo has a lovely three-dimensional feel. I'm not totally convinced by the crop, though - it feels a little awkward where the trunk and tusks are 'cut off'. Maybe a vertical format composition would have worked slightly better in this instance?

This is a really nicely timed and captured shot. With the dog running straight into camera, centralising the subject has created a strong composition. The subject is beautifully sharp and detailed, and the light and shade give the image great depth. I like the processing and tone of the image too.

This is a beautifully captured flight shot of a hummingbird. The photographer has set-up their camera well, selecting a high ISO to generate a fast enough shutter to freeze the motion of the bird's fast wingbeat. The background is beautifully diffused and attractive. I would be tempted to crop this image slightly differently to place the bird off-centre in order to create a more stimulating composition.

This is almost a top shot. The photographer has spotted a great bit of action with this spider monkey devouring a huge cricket or locust. Unfortunately, the subject looks like it's just about to exit the frame, so the composition feels a bit awkward. Had the monkey been looking directly into camera instead, this shot would have far more impact.

This is a well captured damselfly shot. The photographer has carefully positioned their camera parallel to the subject, placing the entire insect within the plane of focus and therefore capturing the damselfly sharply head-to-tail. Unfortunately, the bright out of focus piece of splintered wood (just behind and to the right of the subject) is a little distracting.

A fast shutter speed is a priority when shooting action, so the photographer has done the correct thing by selecting a speed of 1/2500sec. Timing and focusing are good - the composition works well too. It is always an achievement to capture more than one subject sharply in frame.

This image is brilliantly timed - dolphins are hard to photograph with any camera, but the photographer has done exceptionally well to capture this shot using their phone. Compositionally, this shot would work better if there was less space behind the dolphin. Instead, the negative space would be better placed in front of the direction it is leaping.

This is a very sweet image. The focus is sharply on the middle gosling and and I like the photographer's idea of using its parent and sibling as a 'frame'. However, I'm not sure its quite worked in this instance, as the parent bird is awkwardly cropped. The dark object creeping into the bottom right corner is also distracting. Maybe a tighter, square crop would be better in this instance.

Red deer are so photogenic during the rut, with impressive antlers and lots of attitude. This tightly cropped portrait has lots of impact. I love the texture of the background, which really conveys the animal's woodland setting. The foreground bracken gives the photo a lovely autumnal flavour. I love the eye-to-eye perspective and bracken caught in the deer's antlers. My only niggle is that the antlers have been clipped by the top of the frame. A very slightly shorter focal length would have prevented this. A top shot, though.

This style of environmental portrait can produce really striking results - communicating far more about the subject and its habitat than a straightforward close-up. You have to get close to subjects with a short focal length to achieve this perspective. This is a well captured and effective image - well done.

Photographing bright subjects against a dark background (or vice versa) can cause problems for a camera's metering system, but the photographer has controlled exposure well in this instance and captured a good shot of three swans. There is just enough separation between the closest, in focus swan, and the two bird's behind. I would reduce the brightness of the highlights slightly to (hopefully) retrieve some detail in the swan's plumage.