Hoary Marmot at 6am

Whew! That's a lot metadata there, Mark. May I suggest you cut down on most of these and include camera, lens, f stop, shutter speed, ISO, exp comp, and metering mode. You could also add whether this was taken using a tripod or was hand-held, and the vehicle you were shooting from - car, boat, or just standing on the ground. As far as the image is concerned, it's a first-timer for me. I've never even heard of a hoary marmot. I've heard of marmots, of course. We've got them in India, too. There is a bluish cast to the image, which can be easily be removed. Also, you could move the subject more to the right of the frame. Further, a larger photo could help in critiquing the sharpness - this looks, on this small photo, that the face is not as sharp as the shoulder.
Whew! That's a lot of nit-picking, and I'm sorry. Just trying to be helpful! You might wonder, though - if this is 'being helpful', what would a I be like if I didn't like you!

Well since Ajit already did all the nit picking I have not much to add. Only that the round concrete object (table?) the marmot is sitting on is very obviously manmade. I do like the animal's pose with closed eyes.

I am also a Hoary Marmot at 6am, and this is exactly the face I make, too!

Welcome to NPN, Mark. I like this animal - I've never seen one personally, so thanks for posting! Like Agit, I also noted the bluish cast to the image; this should be an easy correction - do you use Lightroom?

Ajit also mentions moving the animal to the right in the frame - this would help, so that he is not so centered. Is this a crop of the original image? I'm wondering if you have a touch more room on the bottom?

What a fun shot Mark. Love the soft buffy colors of this marmot. It looks like it is quite healthy and happy.

Looks like you caught this guy just as it was waking up, maybe waiting for the sun to warm its body. There is a slight bluish cast, I would also suggest not cropping so tight, a little more room showing more of the environment would be nice IMHO. Thanks for sharing.

thanks for all the comments-i have included here 2 other shots - close up with eyes open and zoomed out to show him and his beautiful view of Mount Rainier. I don't think that his perch is man made, however-he was at the top of a massive slide of granite boulders, probably a 600 foot drop below, I think its coincidence that the perch is rounded like a table.
By bluish tinge, do you mean background or subject as well? Not sure best way to remove that in ps5. The eyes closed shot was purposeful as it shows him waking up and groggy. But eyes open is also nice too!
Any help on sizing these images for this site would be appreciated-I keep getting comments asking for bigger images- here is how I am resizing them currently so they are <300kb, which I believe is max. for posting..


Click Image – image Size
Make longest pixel size about 650 pixels
Make sure “bicubic for sharper” is selected at bottom
File-Save for Web and Devices

Thanks!

Nice posting, but I think it is stronger with more inclusion of the surroundings, showing the rocks and cliff edge. I agree with warming the white balance a little bit.