Wolf in Sage

Hi Guy. I agree my eye is also immediately drawn to the wolf, probably because its face is the darkest part of the photo and is punctuated by those great eyes. Very nice sharpness on that wolf too! Shooting at this low iso has really paid off in good colors and dynamic range, love the blue, yellow eyes and green sage.

Guy, this is a great looking image with nice light and intense colours and tones. I think the selective focus pulls it off despite the challenges, and the killer light in the wolf's eye is fantastic. I guess I'm not loving the way the background bokeh is rendered, wishing for a softer, smoother look there. Did you sharpen only the wolf and grass and selectively leave the background unsharpened? I know it wouldn't make a significant improvement, but I did wonder if maybe those transition lines in the water and dirt got enhanced by sharpening. I think mostly it's the result of a fair bit of contrast and saturation in strong light, but it might be worth playing with a little more as a smoother background would, in my opinion, take this up a level (or several!).

Hey Guy, great shot - looks like you had good light without harsh shadows on this particular day. I like the selective focus which draws the eye immediately to the wolf, but after looking at the rest of the image I agree that the bg perhaps looks a little off. Still it’s the eyes of the wolf that make this shot work for me. Great shot thanks for posting it.

I love his eye color and the variation in his coat. The foreground feels natural as presented. My only wish (obviously beyond one's control) would have been for the horizontal mud bar or island to have relocated itself so it did not merge into your subject! I would have been happy with this encounter and this good a chance to capture it!

Guy, I don't mind the foreground at all. Lon beat me to the punch... the only thing that didn't really work out was that horizontal brown line cutting across behind the wolf. While you can't get rid of that, I wonder if cropping out the top brown would help emphasize that fantastic blue color in the background... though maybe you prefer to keep the top brown stripe as a framing device. Overall, you nailed some great colors (the orange eye!) and it's a lovely view of the wolf in the classic Yellowstone environment.

Max

I don't mind the FG as well - lovely eyes on this fella!
I agree with the brown strip in the middle and I would also crop some off the top to remove the far bank of the river?

Hi Guy,

This is an appealing shot and most of my comments (or nits) are of the "in a perfect world" variety (things you couldn't control). Like some of the others, right off I found that strip of mud in the water "unfortunate" (that it overlaps the wolf and breaks up its outline). I also wish that just a little more of the wolf was visible (not a lot, but just a little more). And...I do find the out-of-focus sage and grasses in the lowest part of the foreground minorly distracting. But you couldn't have really done anything about these things...and overall I think the image still works quite well. And I'm sure it was a great experience. So good on ya'!

Cheers...

Brad

Thanks for the critique guys, helpful as always. The inclusion of that sand bar in the shot is unfortunate, that's for sure.

I love wolves in general, so already have me from the get go
Great setting and well composed.. I agree, the wolfs dark head with its lighter eyes draws your attention right away.
Well done