Mountain Lion Leaving

I am a little perplexed why you show the south end of north-bound cat when it was captive and sure to turn back to the camera!? The exposure looks fine but I am not sure what the focus is meant to be.

Interesting. Not what you would expect. I wouldn't be able to tell this was taken at a zoo. the background is blurred enough to make that less evident. Nice details in this south end. Maybe not the best comp.

Thanks for the comments, I guess I was trying to get the shadow of the fence on him, and he never came back this way from the front end. I have been trying to see if the picture works and these comments help.

Hi Jillian and welcome to NPN This sure is an unusual POV of a mountain lion. In that sense I applaud you for your creativity. If you do not dare try different things you will never succeed and this shows you do have that guts! Does it work for me? Sorry, no it doesn't. First of all the hand of man (fence) is too evident (for my personal liking). Although the rear end of an animal can be very interesting to photograph IMO, there is something lacking here. Probably it is the inclusing of the rest of the legs and the tail. I am looking forward to more of your creativity though.

Hi Jillian,

Welcome to NPN and the Fauna Gallery in particular - I hope this is only the first of many contributions (both image posts and comments) you make to this great resource.

Two comments about your image: First, I'm going to take a short-cut and simply say "ditto me on what Vincent said". Second, creativity aside, I often shoot images like this for very specific usage reasons - sometimes I insert them at the "tail end" of a slide show (I'm sure you get my drift) or use them for teaching purposes. Also, I often get requests for images from conservation groups that intentionally INCLUDE some "hand of man" (like the fence here) or atypical poses. So...even if the "majority view" of a particular shot is that it might not be the best "wildlife art", there's still commonly a good use for such shots...

Cheers...and I'm looking forward to your future posts...

Brad

Welcome Jillian to NPN - I'm sure you will find this a good place to grow in your photography skills and in your thought processes about why you take a picture aor like or dislike a picture. I'll echo both Vincent and Brad's comments.

I too take rear end shots of animals - sometimes just because I think some animal backsides are just plain cute! And, like Brad, I have used them at the conclusion of a slide show. So take as many unorthodox shots as interests you. Just make sure you learn from them And keep posting!