San Diego Animal Park

[samya]

Hi Folks,
I'm new to dgrin/smugmug. I'm trying to learn photography also in my spare time. Would like your comments on this photo from San Diego animal park.
http://samya.smugmug.com/photos/25756332-L.jpg

I'd have loved to reduce the DOF farther to blur out the rocks around mode, but my lens didn't allow me to.

Please suggest what other things I could have done to make it better. Gallery at http://samya.smugmug.com/gallery/609609

TIA.
-Samya

[Shay Stephens]

Looks like the view through a rifle scope. Centered/bullseye compositions are not always appealing, so changing the composition would help. The side rocks don't add a whole lot to the image, so you might consider a vertical crop that minimizes the amount of the right-most rock visible.

The photo does have a "you are there" feel to it which is very nice.

I love the wild animal park, it's a great place :-)

[samya]

Looks like the view through a rifle scope. Centered/bullseye compositions are not always appealing, so changing the composition would help. The side rocks don't add a whole lot to the image, so you might consider a vertical crop that minimizes the amount of the right-most rock visible.

The photo does have a "you are there" feel to it which is very nice.

I love the wild animal park, it's a great place :-) Thanks for revieweing. I actually first composed the shot with rule of thirds, but then, liked this version more (don't know why!!). I had to shoot it within a fraction of a second as my caravan was moving, and didn't get a chance to take another shot. I'll try cropping the side rocks and see if it makes it better. Do you think I should've increased the DOF to get the right rock into focus too?

[ian408]

Samya,

First of all, welcome aboard and thanks for participating in the critique
forums.

The wild animal park is a great place to shoot and there are many captive
subjects :D

Your shot is a bullseye shot. Subject square in the frame and smack dab
in the middle. A creative crop would fix this. I'd probably crop out the rocks
altogether. However, the one thing that really stands out for me is the
focus point. I'd like to see it be more in the eyes than as far back as it
seems to be. DOF can be tricky. If the subject is perfectly in focus, it's
great.

A nice in camera crop and attention to the focus point would make this
a better image.

Look forward to seeing more of your work--especially the shots from the
WAP.

Ian

[samya]

Thanks ppl for the reviews. Here is a cropped version:
http://samya.smugmug.com/photos/25756332-L-2.jpg

[Prezwoodz]

Like the photos! I love wildlife. As with the others i agree about the bullseye effect of the photo's. It is a weird habit to break but if you follow the rules of thirds more often you can began to develop a feeling of what is important in your photo and how to actually show it. I felt that because i was taking a picture of a climber he needed to be center shot, because he was the important part. However in doing so you focus to much on one thing and lose the rest of the feeling of the area. I see animals in your shots but not the habitat that they are in which means almost as much to me as the animals!