The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is from this years Fall colors trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons. I had good luck with the moose this year and the males searching out the females didn’t disappoint at all. In fact, I came across 5 moose in the poring rain. Three bulls, a mom and a baby. Two of the three bulls were huge (one of them was a bull by the name of Hoback), another was already with the female and the baby and there was another bull with the tiniest antlers and he thought he was all that until Hoback started his wobbly cowboy walk towards and pushed the smaller bull into the trees.
Anyway, These two were together during my entire stay in the Tetons and were easy to get close to. People didn’t appear to bother them much. Late afternoon one day the male was getting really frisky with the female, laying his head on her back and trying to nuzzle her. I caught this one image when she turned her head back towards his head and the two looked into each other eyes. I can’t tell if she warning him that she’s about to drop kick into next week or if she wants to have his baby. You decide.
Specific Feedback
Colors
Crop
Technical Details
Z9, 400mm lens with built in teleconverter not engaged, @400mm, 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 1600, hand held
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I love this! The line of the two long heads coming together with the nostrils forming almost a complete shape at the end. Great that you could get them both so crisp and sharp. Moose in the Tetons have to be pretty tolerant of us jerks all over the place (I just drove through there so I count myself as a pesty human, too). Glad they can just get on with things. You migh see if some selective processing could bring out both faces a tiny bit more, especially those eyes (a radial gradient usually works great for making eyes more distinctive). Maybe a slight darkening of the far antler, too? Up to you, but I love the enveloping feel of the two together.
This one looks pretty good. I might be tempted to clone out the bright yellow vertical stem along the RH edge of the cow moose’s back. I love the detail present in the subjects and the overall comp is excellent…Jim
Very nice, David. I wouldn’t venture to guess about the message here, but it sure looks nice. I see the stem @Jim_Zablotny is talking about and if you don’t want to clone, a very small crop would take care of it as well.
A Teton get-on for sure, David. I like Kris’s suggestions for the faces, but it’s still a great capture. If he can have a name, then I think she deserves one too. How about Lucy?
Wonderful!! I’m late here so can just add another kudo – all said above. At the risk of anthropomorphizing, I think there is so much ambiguity in her look, which is perfect. You have to wonder how much of our complexity in relationships and emotions holds with animals. I suspect quite a bit.
This is beautiful. Gorgeous background, (and foreground). The colours of the pair look good to me, but I am no moose expert. I like all the little slobber marks down the girls back from him muzzling.
Thanks very much @Diane_Miller, @Mike_Friel, @Dennis_Plank, @Jim_Zablotny, @Kris_Smith, @Youssef_Ismail for your suggestions and comments on this one. I will take this one back to the computer and remove the little distractions that I missed the first time around. Thanks for noticing. Glad you all liked this one.
