WET Task #33: Headshots of Animals

[Levina de Ruijter]

Discussion tells a lot about my own pictures that I didn't consider. Sometimes photos that I don't think much of are ones that other people like and v.v. - some photos that I really like leave other people cold. I have a photo of the house we lived in soon after we were married and I did not think much of it (I was really taking a photo of a rainbow behind it)-- until someone compared it to some famous photographer whose name I no longer remember. And I did not notice that some of my shots weren't really in sharp focus until Levina mentioned it.

Sharp focus isn't always important, especially not on the board. When I look at your images on the board or in your blogs I most always like them. Some are not in focus and I don't care at all because the subject matter is often fascinating that it just doesn't matter. So I'm not that hung up on sharp focus. But in competitions it becomes a thing. If I have to pick 3 images from 10 or 12 images then I have to set a few criteria. On a static subject, focus is one. Composition is another, exposure is a third. You could say that for WET I first look at the technical side of an image. Then I look beyond that. So for me this is a way to get to those three images that I need to choose.

And by the way, your monkey's eyes are in sharp focus!! It's a great image.

But Patrick's squirrel stood out for me. I just loved it so I gave him the #1 position. I also really liked Rob's and Jason's images so they ended up as my #2 and #3 respectively. But the #2 and #3 slots only got decided at the last moment because other images were also great, like Terry's cute doggie Chloe or Jan's Labrador. Or or or... A great week.

#1 Patrick (pcs)
#2 Rob (RDWP)
#3 Jason (Jack Dawe)

I also had a hard time deciding which image to enter. For a long time I thought I might choose this one, a grey heron, which I think is a very good image.

Or this one, with a bite. During another harsh winter. Gosh it was cold! I can still remember that. I have no idea why I was out in the park shooting birds...

 

[pcs]

Sharp focus isn't always important, especially not on the board. When I look at your images on the board or in your blogs I most always like them. Some are not in focus and I don't care at all because the subject matter is often fascinating that it just doesn't matter. So I'm not that hung up on sharp focus. But in competitions it becomes a thing. If I have to pick 3 images from 10 or 12 images then I have to set a few criteria. On a static subject, focus is one. Composition is another, exposure is a third. You could say that for WET I first look at the technical side of an image. Then I look beyond that. So for me this is a way to get to those three images that I need to choose.

And by the way, your monkey's eyes are in sharp focus!! It's a great image.

But Patrick's squirrel stood out for me. I just loved it so I gave him the #1 position. I also really liked Rob's and Jason's images so they ended up as my #2 and #3 respectively. But the #2 and #3 slots only got decided at the last moment because other images were also great, like Terry's cute doggie Chloe or Jan's Labrador. Or or or... A great week.



I also had a hard time deciding which image to enter. For a long time I thought I might choose this one, a grey heron, which I think is a very good image.

View attachment 54323

Or this one, with a bite. During another harsh winter. Gosh it was cold! I can still remember that. I have no idea why I was out in the park shooting birds...

View attachment 54324

I almost posted this one

 

[pcs]

Yeah, got to agree. I know well enough that 100-400L requires a small aperture at close range, but I never remember when actually shooting. The fact that the head isn't dead straight to the camera bothers me more.

That's why I didn't post this one