New Joiners - Animals #629

It's often said if photographing animals or people that it's really important to focus on the eyes, but you've proven here that it's only a guideline and can be broken. I love the high key effect, the crisp focus and the detail in the beard on this image. Gorgeous!

I love the wide angle perspective in this image and it works really well in black and white. Showing the habitat and surroundings gives us great context and the birds almost look like stars, adding to the atmosphere in this image.

Artificial lighting can be difficult to work with, especially when it comes to moving subjects. You've nailed it here with great focus and no perceivable motion blur despite the slower shutter speed. The shallow depth of field really draws you into those eyes.

The framing and symmetry on this image is gorgeous and I love the consistency and warmth of the colour palette. The focus, exposure and depth of field are all spot on and you did well with the metering to achieve the image you had in mind.

Emotive images like this can be difficult to achieve, but they're some of the most impactful and hard hitting. This image has all the features necessary to achieve this, along with being really well composed and a great choice to go with black and white.

The eyes on this image pop so much and draw you into the image, with great reflections and pin sharp detail. This just goes to show that it's possible to achieve a great image regardless of your equipment, be it a camera or phone.

The colour on this image is truly divine and goes to show that the blue hour can be a fantastic time for photography. I love the natural framing you've achieved with the trees either side of the donkey, along with showing great context of the surroundings.

The foreground branches and trees work so well to frame the subject and draw you into the image. Whilst this image would work well in colour and black and white, I love the vibrant reds on the bisons coat which adds to the image.

The reflections on this image are as close to perfect as you could hope for and I love the colour palette of this image. On paper, the composition breaks some guidelines but in practice, it works incredibly well to create this lovely image.

What fabulous lighting! The detail is so crisp and sharp on this image and it works really well in black and white. The low key effect makes the details pop even more, paired with that gorgeous reflection in the eyes which draws you in.

I love how atmospheric this image is with the bokeh surrounding this gorgeous horse. The grass and foliage in the foreground adds depth and some natural framing. If this image is cropped I'd consider giving the horse some extra room on the bottom of the image.

I love how well the surrounding foliage frames this cub and the expression is truly gorgeous. Be cautious with your shutter speed when working with wildlife or animals as it's very easy to accidentally introduce motion blur. 1/500th is usually a good baseline.

Mallards are so often overlooked in wildlife photography, but with such vibrant plumage along with being relatively accessible, there's so much potential to get amazing images. I love how well the side lighting has worked here to highlight that gorgeous colour whilst darkening the background.