Wild Squirrels (no people)

Another honest real moment, just what I wanted to see in this contest.

A great angle and depth of field. with good focus.

I love how the image shows the texture of the tail with the shorter inner hairs and the longer thinner outer ones. It gives the image that extra level of depth.

Although not the most immediately visually striking image in this contest it really stood out for me. Time was obviously spent waiting for this little squirrel (or other wildlife!) to appear.

I love the image because it is a natural shot, it's not set up, this is a squirrel going on about its normal life.

The eye level view point is spot on, the focus on the eye nailed, and a good use of DOF.

I an ideal world I wouldn't want the yellow blade of grass dissecting the squirrel in shot but given it's a documentary photograph that's not something that can be changed!

The only other real critique is that some of the squirrel's chest area is blown out. There was by the looks some late low sun coming from camera right which has blown out the white hairs. This may or may not be recoverable if shot in raw, but if it was my photo I would try to rescue a bit of detail if possible or perhaps dull the highlight slightly so attention isn't distracted from the squirrel's eye.

A lot of time, patience and skill went into this image and it shows.

I love how the OCF really highlights the squirrel from the background and brings out some beautiful rich tones in the coat. Big bonus of it being a red squirrel that are now rare in the UK.

Obviously, there was a lot of work to get the right focus/lighting etc but one of the things that really nails the image is the symmetry, which although I'm sure the set-up would have encouraged it came down to the squirrel to execute!

Well done, most definitely a bucket list image and although 'set up' unlike a sitting squirrel set-up shot that fact offers minimal advantages to the photographer.

This image definitely fulfils the alternative angle criteria.

The fill flash is possibly marginally too bright for my liking but I like the way separation it creates between the squirrel and background. It also stops the sky from being blown out which is a definite bonus. It just leaves the tree bark slightly bright at the bottom for my liking.

Well done as real skill was needed to set up this image.

Quite simply this image made me laugh! I would be interested to know if the photographer was with their camera or it is was on a tripod or similar with trigger release. If not on a trigger release then it's a very bold squirrel!

Great focus and a simple background so not to distract the eye. Personally I would have liked a slightly wider depth of field to bring a bit more of the squirrel into focus. A higher aperture would have achieved that whilst still giving a beautifully soft background given the distance between camera/subject and subject/background.

Well done, and totally an image I could imagine in a wildlife calendar!

I was spoiled for choice for good images in this competition so I looked to find the images that showed that extra bit special. Something that would have made the image that bit harder to capture or a unique viewpoint for the subject.

I love this image, for starters the image ticks all the technical skill boxes. Beautifully sharp focus on the eye, a great angle, and fabulous use of DOF, to focus the viewer on the squirrel subject.

I love that the squirrel is drinking, with the water visibly pooled up around its mouth, but obviously still very alert and you can just imagine a second later it could have jumped back out of shot.

The photographer must have had their camera pretty much at water level so not an easy image to capture. I suspect there was a lot of thought and patience setting up this photo.

My only slight criticism is the black splodge in the top left corner being slightly distracting. In an ideal world, I would likely remove it but it is only a minor disturbance to the eye hence still warranting 2nd place.