Untitled

Great expressions captured. Square format works - tight and tidy comp.

Thanks Biliana and S(t)even!

Catchlights are awesome and great DOF. Makes me want to give them a peanut.

 

Dave

Awesome capture! And I agree- perfect poster!

Cheers, Iren

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Superb capture! Very effective composition with great detail. Congrats!

Very cool. USM on nose.

Does the fact that everything is the same tone, i.e. the animals fade too much into the background bother anyone else? I find myself trying too hard to see where the ground ends and animal begins.

I have no problem with these cute little creatures blending into the dirt. They are absolutely adorable. Terrific photo! Congratulations!

I tend to agree that a sharper nose would be ideal; and I agree with you about the color, Ben, but what choice did the photographer get ? These are the colors in front of him, I suppose.

 

I think this picture is well composed, but mostly, it's quite a unique catch, with two great expressions at once. That's the picture's value for me. Very good, and quite unique.

Cute and well balanced composition.

It could be that the animals blending into their environment just might have contributed to

their survival.

Expressive. Massive. Makes the universe real small, du'nt it.

Yikes! This is a really awesome capture! Great use of the 10.5mm nikkor.

Great work. BTW, I think the color is just fine. As the for the nose...it being

unsharp is not a detractor, but a sharp nose is cool too.

this photo is great. I like it. I like the brown too. it all works well. good work on good content.

Very earthy image connecting one with the animal side of one's nature.

Congratulations on the POW recognition.

Look as if the photographer (so the viewer) is landing on a new planet with strange and curious inhabitants welcoming!

well done

Besides the fact that I generally find the colour of dirt unpleasant, I think that this photo is superbly crafted; the composition is very pleasing and the vignetting contributes to the success of the photo by focussing attention on the center, which works particularly well with the square format. My only complaints are the nose being out of focus (and dirty, but is that too nitpicky?), and the dull colour scheme.

This photo is so appealing! The square format, the vignetting, the color. The fact that

you've left it alone and not photoshopped it to death.

 

I prefer the nose out of focus. It tells me that this nose was REALLY close. This shot is real

- dirt on their faces, funny fur, the eyes of the closest animal look bloodshot. Everything

about this photo works to make it instantly likeable.

 

The only thing that would add to this is a sound bite with the "stupid noise" you made to

attract their attention. :)

Nice "real world" image. I too think you captured the adorableness so to speak of these very cute animals quite successfully. Those sad eyes and the little feet off the ground make it that type of image for me. I do not have any issues with the consistent tones throughout either. Like mentioned above, this blending-in probably helps against predatory birds and the like. Real life camo!

 

That said -and I do like this- I would not consider it is a professional type of capture for this type of image. This is a good capture of a very good subject. The problem? The limited depth of field. With a close up like this, you will often get a limited DOF. In fact most closeups of any animals will be limited. However, having a portion of the nose or a portion of the FRONT of the animal out of focus is generally not acceptable in the professional wildlife world. The back-end of the animal can drift out of focus, but the front should maintain sharpness. I am not saying that this is just a snapshot, because the photographer has many well crafted images throughout his portfolio, and this does have a lot going for it as well. Some will even consider this as nit-picking. But this is the picture of the week, and to take it to another level, I think he should have backed up just a bit or stopped down, if even only a little. Here are two images from National Geographic that are similar. While this image here is intersting and likable, I do not think it would have made it into a publication of this stature for this one very simple reason.

 

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0105/feature8/zoom6.html

 

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0209/feature3/zoom4.html

I actually like the earthy "dirt" tones throughout the image, this makes it feel almost like a toned black and white print, and adds to the mood. I think a background with clashing or distracting colours would not have been this good.

This image http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0209/feature3/zoom4.html which Vincent linked us to is imo the only one of the two, that can really be compared to this POW, while the other one is of a totally different nature - a single animal photographed in a much less original way.

 

But the comparison with http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0209/feature3/zoom4.html

is indeed interesting. It shows how much stronger and original the angle and expressions of the POW are, whereas I think the colors of the national geographic picture are nicer. And while I agree with what Vincent says about the unsharp nose, I think it raises an interesting question: is a very unique picture with a little flaw really of less value - even in the professional world -, than a picture that's less original, less interesting, but more perfect ?

 

My personal experience is that both types of shots have a space on the market place, but I'm not sure what the "rules" are sor wildlife photography specifically.

wow. perfect! what lens did you use please? one thing is that wide angle photos are "always" good another thing is, you dont meet these animals every day hehe :) . really great work !

Hello Hans.

 

The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively by prejudice. This is a really great shot, much better than the two boring national geographic pics! If I had to choose between the professional and the artistic/fresh type of work I would choose the fresh one without hesitation! :-)

 

I know there are tradeoffs when taking a photo. This is taken handheld so maybe stopping down was not an option. Also, stepping back would change its great perspective.

 

Blured nose is not an issue for me. I like the way you managed to create the amazing pose, that was the real challenge, not the DOF. BTW, I find the execution excellent as well.

 

This is a highly original photo, thanks for sharing, I really like your vision.

 

Best regards.

The reference to 'professional work' makes me a bit nervous when talking about photography,

There are people who keep their art as a hobby or passion (they do publish sometimes thou), and there are others who do (or try to do, for the majority of them) business in taking and selling pictures, goals are different and the most artistic or topnotch photographers are not necessarily belonging to one or the other category.

By the way I found your second choice of 'professional' picture (http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0209/feature3/zoom4.html) far poorer in composition and below average in cropping. And, I wouldn't be surprised to see Hans' picture published instead.