Outcast
by L1

Comment:
Fantastique!

Gentle Assurance
by L1

Comment:
reaching for the coat
front or back, it's all the same
that's where softness lives

Falling Feather
by Heavy

Comment:
nigh nor silent down
whence the wing, the guiding sun
there the void alight

Dawn Patrol
by crabappl3

Comment:
distant still they go
rainbows wrapped around the sun
dancing with the clouds

Air Boarding
by bruski

Comment:
dark fluidity
envelopes aureola
during ascension

Here kitty kitty kitty....
by L1

Comment:
I don't know nuttin' 'bout jaguars, 'ceptin' they be cool cats.

You may receive comments about the OOF leaves in foreground (nearly all viewers like having the frontmost element to be in focus), but I like to think it adds depth. The background colour of the tree suggests a coolness to the day and perhaps the cat too. The atypically drab environment for this beautiful cat might have provided an opportunity to really pump up the orange (saturation) in the coat and perhaps deepen the blacks (contrast). Unless there's an additional element at play, many viewers prefer having wildlife (esp. mammals) looking directly at the camera. I suppose it creates an otherwise non-existent connection between "us" and "them". Exceptions to the "look at me" rule usually involve dynamic action (growling, yawning, pouncing, pre-pouncing etc.).

In all honesty, this is a very average photo of a big cat, especially within the confines of this challenge, but there are a considerable number of images "worse" than yours. (I think your elephant photo would have taken you out of the average arena). Unfortunately, there's little you can do to improve this photo as any improvement would require changes in things you cannot control.

Timing can be (and usually is) everything for wildlife shots and you just weren't there at that decisive moment. What can you do? Keeping going back until you have the jaguar photo to end all jaguar photos? Perhaps.

Were I voting sincerely, this would end up with a 6. Because I think assigning numbers to images is meaningless, I'm giving you a 10 (yes I vote on all images, so it will count).

Message edited by author 2004-10-11 03:00:15.

Giraffe
by Kavey

Comment:
I being with a haiku:
Oh mighty tower
Melting with the burning grass
And bespotted paths

and now a faiku:
the shifting chroma
from the lens or the wobbles
begs for black and white

and now a paiku:
the dancing pattern
moves like sun-dappled water
hiding in shadow

Famished
by connie

Comment:
Ground rushing beneath my feet, reeling towards these birds in flight, towards the water and the light.

To photograph a feeling such as this. Fantastic.

10.

Little Bird, Big Woods
by Artyste

Comment:
My first observation is that selective desat has been used to accentuate the colours of the bird. My second observation is there is an ever so slight amount of motion blur and/or bird movement. I would have hoped that a bird of such colour would do well on its own to stand out against bleak bark. I don't use a voting system that adds points for this or subtracts points for that; I sort of just let the mouse click where it may, guided mostly by my gut. On the grand scheme of wildlife photography, bird images in particular, and this challenge especially, this is an average photo so I probably wouldn't give it higher than 6 (and probably a 5). Since I don't think these numbers mean anything, I'm giving you a multidigit score (a non-degenerative one).

"Wild Time in the Old Town Tonight"
by tfarrell23

Comment:
Ahh, exhibitionists. I assume you have made every attempt to meet the challenge, that the building in the background is their humble abode, and they like to drive that shiny white car on the left there. Here's hoping all that hard work pays off (in the way of a baby, assuming they want one).

10.