Take note

Steve - Love the pose and detail - fur is sharp in most places.
A greater DOF would have brought the whole animal intro focus.
Nice BG too, but I might dampen the lightest areas a bit.
Really nice!
Sandy

Maybe he's taking note about the appointment with the manicure . The pose and details are good, i will consider to turn down the lighter area behind his shoulders.

Chhers, Luca

Very nice image Steve, I like the not looking at the camera pose. Nice colors, lighting, detail, and background.

Great detail and I like the complimentary background.

Hi Steve,

I very much like the pose of this little guy and your title works well with the shot. I personally find the depth of field pretty much optimal - all the things that need to be sharp are (and the true out-of-focus zones are nice and smooth). I also very much like the dynamic diagonal element added to the image by the tree. To my eye the colour palette is quite harmonious. I see the argument for toning down the bright area behind the head and shoulders but it honestly didn't bother me too much. There's one thing (that was totally out of your control) that very slightly hampers my appreciation of this image a tad (but just a tad) - while I like that the subject isn't looking directly at you, I'd prefer if the head was turned just a LITTLE more toward you so that the second eye was a little more visible. This is truly an "in a perfect world" type of comment and the image as posted is both visually appealing and technically very sound. Well done!

Cheers...

Brad

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply.

Hi Sandy, if I had increased the DOF then the SS would have suffered and at 1/400 I was beginning to get below the norm for the 500, so unless I upped the ISO to 800 (which I rarely like to do), so for me, it's sharp where it needs to be ie face, everything else just falls into place with the DOF.

Hi Brad, yes a slight head turn would be ideal, but sadly you have to take what you can get, but these Rhesus monkeys are so close in many respects to ourselves with very true and lifelike mannerisms. Oh Brad, how is the sharpening?

Thanks again
Steve

Hey Steve,

About the sharpening - looks really good on my monitors - has that mix of great detail with a slightly "soft" (not focus-wise) look that I really like. The tough-to-handle spots - like those light hairs coming on the upper lip - look spot-on (and those are REALLY easy to over-do).

Cheers...

Brad

Excellent image for a hand held full frame shot. I like the good detail and sharpness and I would not change a thing as the larger image look great. Wonderful job with the composition, way to go, well done all the way around.

Fantastic detail in the fur, catchlight, great bokeh, and like the way he(?) is scratching his hand.