Blacklight
by Mark

Comment by Venom:
seems to be cropped a little tight for the spiral effects.

Mother and Daughter
by Mark

Comment by pwalpwal:
With less black on the right, the crop might be improved.

Chemical beauty
by Mark

Comment by lynnmarie:
I like the angled perspective and symmetry of this.

The Key
by Mark

Comment by Haneck:
Very neat idea - I love the simplicity of this shot, and the rich color vrs. the deep black. The only problem is that it's slightly blurred. :( This would be an awsome shot if it weren't for that one thing... Keep trying!! :)

100m dash
by Mark

Comment by karmat:
CRITIQUE CLUB CRITIQUE
by karmat

Interesting take on the challenge.

Compositionally, this shot is okay. The cheetahs are in the lower half of the frame which makes it feel balanced, and the two visible ones are not centered but in the right hand running left, so there is room for them to go. The tail on the left is a bit distracting, but funny. What may have made it even more humorous is to chop part of the tail of the one to the far right. To me, then , it would look like the sides of the picture would 'match up' in a rather humorous juxtaposition.

Technically, the shot is a little soft and needs a touch of contrast or saturation, I think. Also, the trees in the background seem to be slightly tilted to the left, just a touch making it seem as if they are running down hill (perhaps they are).

As mentioned before, I find this a creative, interesting approach to the challenge. It is not a sport as we know it, but rather one that is being played by non-humans. Unfortunately, that may have hurt in some of the scores.

Nice work, and if I need to further explain or clarify myself, please feel free to contact me.

karma

100m dash
by Mark

Comment by snaffles:
I love cheetahs and that tail to the left is just hilarious. 8

100m dash
by Mark

Comment by NicoleB76:
maybe a closer crop

100m dash
by Mark

Comment by Melethia:
Heh! I like just the tail on the left. Looks like a good game of chase.

Horton's Early Years
by Mark

Comment by KaDi:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

I laughed when I read the title! As shoe-ins for challenges go this one is forgivable. :)

I really like the way the posture of the baby and the mother echo each other! The baby is nicely framed by the area between the adult's trunk and forelegs. It looks like it was taken on an overcast day which helps to keep extreme shadows from interfering with the detail on these dark subjects.

I would like to see the background be a little less intrusive to help isolate the subject from the zoo environment...blurring, for example, could help. But since you opened your lens quite wide you must have been rather close to the subject and not able to limit the DOF as much as you might have liked. Under this editing rule-set you could have blurred in post process.

I also find the post in the background bothersome. Because it's similar in color to the elephants it looks like an extra leg holding up the adult. If I were cropping this image I'd start just to the right of that post...really nothing to its left is necessary for the composition. This crop would change the orientation of the image...but I think it would further isolate the subject and focus attention more strongly on the lines and shapes repeated between adult and infant.

Overall, a nice animal portrait!

100m dash
by Mark

Comment by jccminty:
What sport is this. Adding a sport title to your photo does not make it a sport.