Good Morning, Sunshine
by colorcarnival

Comment by spiritualspatula:
I would've voted it a 5. It's not a bad photo, but I think the DPC crowd is just overwhelmed with crazy good wildlife/nature photos. It's REALLY hard to enter one and get much of anything. I consider any nature type shot I can pull over a 6 to be a pretty big success in DPC land.

Now, you don't always need to have exotic animals, but you DO need to have them in a dynamic and unusual way. The more ordinary your object the more you need to remove it from that ordinary-ness that the voter feels. For this, making the bird more prominent in the frame, either alighting or landing, looking at the camera, showing intensity, that sort of thing, will go a long way.

As a personal thing, I normally try to keep my nature/wildlife shots devoid of the non-natural unless I'm using it as a part of the statement of the photo. The reason I do this is because people have this idea with wildlife that there is still this pristine world that is untouched, and they react more to this romanticized vision than if you didn't take that approach.

I did find it amusing, but you have to make humor a stronger focus if you're trying to garner votes from it.

Ball
by colorcarnival

Comment by glad2badad:
If I could see the cat's face / eyes this would be a 10 - still like it enough for an 8. Great idea and perfect lighting.

Rally
by colorcarnival

Comment by markwiley:
I love this shot. So much going on, but such a strong focal point. Just missed the top ten, but that means number one on the second page. Congrats on the PH bling.

Tell Me What You See
by colorcarnival

Comment by jagar:
I see a wonderful image, best so far.

Rally
by colorcarnival

Comment by jagar:
A superb image, one to be proud off.

Rally
by colorcarnival

Comment by spiritualspatula:
I think I like the hands being included, as well. Was this the one that was doing so well in voting or do you have another great one brewing?

Rally
by colorcarnival

Comment by tome:
Wow what a capture, congrats on the bling Michelle!
I think you did right keeping the hands...

Rally
by colorcarnival

Comment by PennyStreet:
Congrats on the bling, Michelle! Love this!

Rally
by colorcarnival

Comment by bassbone:
This is so good. Just missed the top 10 but in a very strong field of images, this shot really shines (as does the cheerleader's smile). Well done!

Good Morning, Sunshine
by colorcarnival

Comment by Art Roflmao:
It's not a "bad" photo. I didn't vote, but would've 6'd it. The standards in a FS are very high and rightly so, IMO. If you had some cheetahs on that roof, it would've ribboned for sure. ;-) Didn't do as bad as mine. Down there. ...scroll. ....keep scrolling... ;-)