This was a good photo year for me. I had tens of thousands of shots from San Diego, Washington D.C., Rome, Venice, Florence, and the Catskills, but I still wasn't sure I had a "best." I like to think that my best is always yet to come, so I drove over to the local zoo on December 30th for some insurance photos. This ocelot proved to be a great model (and, no, it wasn't stufffed). ;-)
Taken on a monopod with my trusty Tamron lens through a somewhat dirty glass window. Processing: Slight crop, a little Noise Ninja to handle the ISO400 grain, blur the background very slightly, levels, global and spot saturation, channel mixer for extra punch, assorted dodging and burning.
Statistics
Place: 15 out of 833 Avg (all users): 7.0792 Avg (commenters): 8.6481 Avg (participants): 6.9896 Avg (non-participants): 7.5000 Views since voting: 5349 Views during voting: 726 Votes: 467 Comments: 68 Favorites: 33 (view)
Beautiful shot Shannon, my personal fav of the challenge. I was off a little bit on placement in my previous comment, but still, top 15 in a HUGE challenge is awesome. Good job!
Wow! The lighting on this is just SUPERB. Great job.
Back to bump this up. This is National Geographic quality. Such incredible mastry of shadow I've rarely seen before. My personal top pick of the challenge. If I could give an 11 I would. :)
one of the few animal pix I like, excellent light, excellent texture, great color, great dof, blacks could use a small tweek but not disturbingly, whites great, comp too loose but again not bad, nice flow, overall could be a great print
Wonderful... the shallow focus, the clarity of the face... and what an incredible look you've captured. This is not just another wildlife shot. 10 and faved.
Beautiful colors and sharpness. Well done and good luck. With this shot, I can actually believe that this is your best shot of the year(unlike some of the others in this challenge). Anyway...
I love the sharp contrast of the head (in sharp focus) with the background which appears DOF blurred. Beautiful whites, and blacks. Wide dynamic range. Nice catchlights in the eyes. Well done. Among my top picks.
Amongst the best of the wildlife entries in this challenge. You took the tones to a perfect level and really brought this image to the next level with your cropping and editing. GREAT JOB!
WOW!!! Visually stunning! Really, an incredible shot! The lighting is superb here, as well as the excellent composition, focus, and depth of field. I never say this on an entry during voting, but I feel this is a ribbon winner. Congratulations on an fantastic shot!
Love the colors and the candid capture of this feline. Colors are very rich and the details on the face are sharp enough for you to see all the fine hairs on this wild cat's head. A closer crop or focus such that the composition is filled by just the cat's head would keep the focus on the cat rather than the background.
This is certainly one of best animal images I have every seen. The colors & lighting are superb, and you hit on the exact DOF to make this image perfect.
What an amazing photograph of a cat not many people are familiar with. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure this is an ocelot. The lighting for this really draws the viewer into the cats face, especially those amazing eyes. Definately a 10!
How absolutely stunning! That head seems to literally poke itself outside of my computer screen! The deep, rich colors. The xpression. This is better than perfect! A standout, even in a challenge like this! 10
Beautiful portrait - love the composition with head on the right of frame looking to the left. Eye detail, colour and catch light are great. Nice DOF choice blurring background but still showing a touch of the environment nonetheless. Nice one!
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