skulls Whitetail Deer and Prickly Pear Cactus

You did ask, so I am likely to seem a bit presumptuous, so bear with me.  This could work, but it is not in its current presentation.  You first worst enemy was the light, it was flat = time of day - cloud cover?  The lighting is making all the green meld into each-other, very little definition/separation of elements.   This seems to be a posed shot, so next time try these two things, tip the skull/rack back toward center not away and cover the bright Prickly Pear scab with a blossom or something.  Lastly, get a bit lower on your shooting angle.  I hope you can see these things in your "minds eye" and can visualize how they would help pull this outdoor still life together.

Mind you these are only my opinions, you are the artist, and others may disagree with my approach,  however, I would propose another try at this. 

-Dave

I enjoyed your photo of the old deer skull, and also liked  the suggestions in the long critique you got. so as a study of  photography I like to see all the wonderful photos on PN and learn from all the critiques.  So all in all a very nice photo and maybe a few things to try also. take care.

Thank you both for the critiques. I agree 100 %. This was shot late in the evening. I would have liked to get lower but i'm already kneeling on a thorn bush so getting lower would have really hurt :-) I do agree about the lighting and plan to take some more photos to see if I come up with something else better.

It's always nice to hear other people's thoughts on your own photos (whether they good or bad). People point out things that you never would have noticed.

Hey Colton, I see a lot of potential with this scene.  I agree with the other posters that the light is a little flat (not much you can do about that).  I think this scene would have been better served in black and white and from a lower perspective.  Black and white offers a lot of opportunities to add contrast.  Don't be afraid to fire up Live View and set your camera on the ground for an interesting perspective.  Honestly, you don't have to use Live View.  I shoot from the ground all the time and never even look through the viewfinder... I don't have Live View.