Coyote

It may be a bit soft, but it is a very good image. The pose of the coyote is great, and IMHO there is good detail in it's fur. Thanks for posting.

Nice capture Matt, I like the pose and the surrounding environment. The wildflowers are especially a nice touch.

Hi Matt,

I'm with you in liking the intense stare and the backlighting. I also like the transition from brighter foreground and subject to the darker background. My personal taste runs towards having a greater depth of field in shots like this (in this case meaning more of the foreground in focus), but this is definitely a personal preference issue and certainly not a "right-wrong" sort of thing. As you pint out the coyote does look a little soft, but this may be as much as a processing issue as an image capture "problem" - hopefully as your skill in processing improves issues like this will be looked after...

Cheers...

Brad

PS: Please don't hesitate to jump in and comment on the images of others. I know many new members are a little hesitant to do so, but ultimately the success of all the galleries are determined largely by the comments members leave on the images that are posted. And, I think you'll find that going through the critiquing process can actually benefit your own shooting as much (or more) than the comments you receive on your own images.

If you're unsure or uneasy about commenting/"critiquing" there are several good resources on this website discussing it. Start right here:

http://www.naturephotographers.net/naturephotos/wildlifephotography.html

and you'll find links to the the image posting guidelines and two articles on critiquing ("The Art of Image Critique" and "More Thoughts on Photo Critique.").

Nice capture. It would have really been dramatic if you could have isolated him even more against that dark background! Lighting is very nice as are the grasses, sage, and wildflowers.

I like the coyote stare along with the layered background, well seen.