animals photoss

Hi @grace-galdamez! Welcome! I enjoy photographing animals too.

I love how you captured your cat looking straight at you! One thing that would make the image even more powerful would be to focus on the eyes. Right now the nose is really sharp, but eyes are less sharp. Whenever I photograph animals, I always try to make the eyes super sharp, since that is where viewers will look first. If you are using a really small aperture, then focusing on both eyes could be tricky. You could either close down your aperture a bit to get both eyes in focus, or try a different angle and focus on the eye closest to you!

For your second image, I like the concept of focusing on the flowers with the flamingos in the background. I love the pretty blue flowers in the foreground! Personally, I think that the image would be even better if you focused more on one subject. When I look at your image, I am not sure if it is about the flowers or the birds. Since the flamingoes are brighter than the flowers, my eye first goes to the flamingos, not the flower. In other words, if you really focused on the flower, and blurred the flamingos more, or if you focused on the flamingos, and blurred out the flowers and leaves more, the image would be more clear.

Note: I am not sure what camera/lens you are using. If you can’t change the aperture to blur out the background, then I would suggest either blurring it out later with something like Photoshop, or changing positions to get a solid background (if you can).

-Anastasia

Wow, great subjects, and creative approach @grace-galdamez! Will you be on the next webinar (on August 1, 2023), where maybe I could critique these live at the end?

Hey @grace-galdamez, I think I may have mentioned I was going to look over your lamb photos in the last webinar but didn’t have time for it. So, taking a look at them here now for you!

You nailed the focus, that’s for sure! Look at the beautiful, sharp eyes, and the detail in the hair. The poor thing looks like it’s in some need of a home and some loving care! Do you know how long a little lamb like that would survive in the wild?

In the first shot (20231012120717_IMG_2648.jpg), it feels to me like the visual flow is slightly disturbed by the close proximity of the head of the lamb to the top edge of the frame. I think the feeling of the lamb being “in your face” would be enhanced by having a little more room up there. The entire head would look more set apart, more noticeable, and thus feel more close feeling.

The second shot (20231012120732_IMG_2650.jpg) is technically great, but lacks in artistic attraction. It documents well the presence of a lamb at the edge of a field, but I’m not drawn to want to look at it for any extended amount of time. Depth of field, compositional balance, and probably perspective would help with this.

The third and fourth shots (20231012120734_IMG_2654.jpg and 20231012120734_IMG_2655.jpg) are better, in that the lamb is now looking at the viewer, not out of the frame. There’s a more personal connection with the poor creature, whose expression matches is impoverished condition. I would probably try to do something with the out-of-focus blade of grass that seemingly appears to protrude from it’s nose.

The last shot (20231012120756_IMG_2661.jpg) evokes the greatest emotion. There’s someone to help this poor lamb! It has an almost hopeful expression now. And though it’s probably not a garden blurred out in the background, the appearance of upright and potentially evenly-distributed “poles”, the white “sign?” in the top left corner of the frame, and what could possibly be mown grass in the middle-ground, give the impression of civilization in stark contrast to the dark, wild place the lamb is positioned currently. I would like to see a bit more of the human element . . . more arm, or better yet, a blurred back or shoulder.

Can’t wait to see more of your animal photos, Grace!