A beautiful photo, indeed... I adore the expression captured and his/her beautiful eyes, plus the detail, clarity and light.
A very nice image and the eyes are gorgeous. In the spirit of a learning/critiquing forum, I have two comments.
1. I personally find that the DOF on this is too shallow. It's distracting to me that the nose and mouth are OOF. While not a deal breaker, it would be much better for me if they were within the DOF
2. When an animal is facing one direction but looking the other, I usually prefer the animal to be centered in the frame because it gives room in front of where it's facing, and room also in the direction it is looking. If it was looking the other way, the placement you have would work better for me.
Just my thoughts. But excellent photo nonetheless.
[QUOTE=flyingSquirrel;342780]A very nice image and the eyes are gorgeous. In the spirit of a learning/critiquing forum, I have two comments.
1. I personally find that the DOF on this is too shallow. It's distracting to me that the nose and mouth are OOF. While not a deal breaker, it would be much better for me if they were within the DOF
This is one of the reasons i always focus on the eyes:
Focus on the eyeball
With a long lens, you don't have a lot of depth of field, so use it wisely. An animal's eye is the most important part and it should be razor sharp. A highlight also improves the photo immensely. Some animals have jet black eyes which look like holes in their heads without that highlight.
This is from this site: http://www.paragon-press.com/tips1.htm.
Dave.
I apologize if I offended you by commenting my opinions on your photos. I wasn't sure if you were open to critiques or not.
Yes, for me personally, that is an excellent capture. The composition, pose, and DOF work better for me. Thanks for posting this one up.
Thanks for the link about wildlife photog. I am aware of DOF and eye focus, and I do agree that you need to be selective with DOF and absolutely should always focus on the eyes. However, I'd like to mention that there is also the option to stop down the lens for more DOF (light level, ISO and other factors permitting). Your shots here are a perfect illustration of this: The first shot is at f2.8 and the most recently posted shot is at f7.1
Really nice photos. Again, sorry if I upset you with my comments.