I think you had the right idea...the curves in this image tend to add a touch of grace and beauty to a very beautiful moment...very emotive...I do agree with ed on the cropping. I looked at it with the my crop viewer and put the mother seals nose close to the right edge of the crop and took the crop vertical...what I saw was a very dynamic shift in the lighting...As my instructor once told me..."It's a touching moment...don't be afraid to get in close". I definately think you're on the right track though and who knows...maybe National Geographic is lookin! I saw six tens in your voting and eighteen nines...wait
Good score - pity that the standard was so high for that challenge, else you'd have placed so much better.
For me there was something not quite satisfying about this shot - I mean that it didn't quite get me as I though it might have been able to. I know it's a tricky shot to get, but I don't think that should sway opinions of it. I think I felt that the framing of the shot was not good: I'd rather have seen a touch more location, perhaps. Also I wonder about your placement of the seals' heads in frame, and relative to the bodies: maybe showing more of the mother would enable you to contrast the relative sizes of the two and to put the real subject (that moment of contact) into a stronger place compositionally. I can imagine then the lines of the bodies forming a happier graphic element to the image. Just thoughts and imaginings, or course.
More purely technically, of course, there is nothing to criticise. And of course, its absolutely fitting for the challenge: I just feel that you slightly missed the 'art' element that NG seems to like in its nature shots.
Beautiful scene - great focus and texture, and the look in the eye of the mother really smacks of loving, tenderness. If this isn't on the first page (and quite high up) it'll be an injustice.
My only minimal criticism is that the little pup is quite shaded and indistinct, but that's picking nits.
Incredible closeup of a tender family moment in the animals' life. This is what NG is about. You can almost feel the smoothness of the seals skin. The texture of the sand on the seals body gives a feeling of grittyness. Excellently captured.
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