I think the vertical crop presents a bit stronger image. The river leads in nicely and, as previously mentioned, a bit less green makes the condensed layers stronger
Creative and very good work, Nice mood. One thing? I would remove the bird from the elephant's back. It's a bit overpowering. Other than that I like it a lot
Very good. What a great mood. Competition image is spot on. Of course, some "Rules" judge would complain about all the space on top. Here, the space works, as does the post processing. This is terrific
View it larger and one can appreciate the ladybug more. I understand the focus and extremely shallow DOF that goes with it. The BG is fine. But, I find the very large blurred area in the front troublesome. Some can be cropped out and still keep a very good composition