New Joiners - Animals #664

The square aspect ratio suits this feline portrait. The photographer has nailed the focus, with the cat's eyes and whiskers sharp and lifelike. The black and white conversion really helps place emphasis on texture, detail and contrast. The image boasts great eye-contact.

I love the photographer's creative use of a shallow depth of field, with the point of focus placed on the dog's nose, but everything else drifting attractively out of focus. The elevated viewpoint and wide focal length combine to produce this distorted perspective. It is a quirky looking pooch portrait, which is composed expertly well.

This a sweet photo of a sleeping gentoo penguin. The dark grey backdrop really helps the subject pop, and the photographer has captured lovely detail and sharpness. I might have been tempted to switch my camera into vertical orientation to include the penguin's entire flipper.

I love how the photographer has framed their subject using the tree trunks - and the reflection add a lovely sense of symmetry. The branches in the bottom left corner are quite distracting, though. Therefore, I'd be tempted to crop this into a vertical orientation composition instead.

Although the subject is a little too central in the frame for my liking, this is a nicely captured shot in terms of timing and background. But the file quality is quite poor. The ISO used to take this photo is relatively low, so the lack of definition is not the result of noise. The more likely culprit is excessive cropping and/or over-sharpening.

I love the mood the photographer has captured in this frame. The low light, colourful sky, and dusty landscape create a real sense of atmosphere. However, the highlights are a little too bright and over exposed - negative exposure compensation was required to avoid the sky and reflection from burning out. I would also like to see some breathing space around the elephant's reflection.

Those eyes are just amazing! This is a fascinating shot, but with the cat's eyes being the main focus, I do feel the photographer should have placed the point of focus directly on them, rather than on the subject's nose. Ideally, the photographer would have removed the cat's collar prior to taking this shot, as it is a little distracting. However, I appreciate this might not have been practical.

What a fun shot. It is always good to see urban nature images. This photo really helps highlight how cheeky and adaptable squirrels are, taking advantage of waste food and urban living. The relatively wide perspective and depth of field helps provide interesting context.

This is a nicely composed and well-captured shot, boasting gorgeous background colour and bokeh. Unfortunately, the file submitted is low-resolution and quite low quality. Obviously, as judges, we have to make decisions based on what is put in front of us. And sadly I can't put this photo into my top 10 due to file quality.

At first glance, you wouldn't think this composition would work, with the subject placed so far to the right of the frame. However, the negative space (and the texture and context it provides) works really well I think. The subject is bitingly sharp and its slightly comical expression adds interest and fun to the shot.

Although the light is quite flat and lifeless, the photographer has composed this image well. The low viewpoint and long focal length has helped throw both foreground and background neatly out of focus, helping the subject to standout. The negative space helps absorb the grizzly's gaze.

There is something about this shot that I find really engaging. Maybe it is the raw connection between human and nature - and the sense of scale conveyed in this photo. The conversion to mono helps provide a timeless simplicity to this shot.