Elephant Odyssey
by JeffryZ

Comment:
Lots of San Diego Zoo entries, but it is about the best zoo there is. I'm going to have to see the new exhibit. Nice capture of the elephant in action surrounded by dust.

The Hummingbird Exhibit
by Carlo21

Comment:
Humming bird. San Diego. I'm guessing Ann? Good capture. I've never seen a humming bird feeding its young. Good sharp focus and BG bokeh. The colors look more pastel than I would expect.

Come to The Zoo
by Nobody

Comment:
Nice sharp focus on the lion and bokeh in the background almost making the fence disappear. I'm wondering if blurring the remaining crosshatch would be better. Good composition allows for excellent placement of the text.

San Diego Zoo Reptile House
by jnenvir

Comment:
Great macro. Those windows are hard to shoot through without reflection.

Honolulu Zoo
by Jovan

Comment:
Cute title. Is this real or a stuffed cheetah with a painted background? I wish I knew before voting. If it's live it's excellent setup and lighting. If a museum someone else did a great job. I'll give you the benefit of a doubt. In any case it's nicely done.

Virginia Safari Park
by SJCarter

Comment:
Nice shot and excellent border as well as camel hair on the lettering.

Turtle Exhibit Billboard
by Lydia

Comment:
Very creative shot nicely titled. It looks like a stuffed lacquer covered turtle, reducing the realism but making a nice shiny image. I love the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. We've been members there for many years.

New friend
by nico_blue

Comment:
Are you short of zoos in your area? Nice shot of the woman and horse. I would have cropped out the tail end of the other horse.

Take Your Children
by posthumous

Comment:
Interesting take on the challenge and perspective on this shot. You did catch the goat's eyes well. Personally I would not be attracted to this zoo ad. There is too much text that is hard to interpret and not much of interest in the picture.

This Old House
by cutlassdude70

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

You made a great find with this house. Also living in Southern California myself I know they are pretty hard to find. I like the perspective you got on this building, making it much more interesting than, for example, a straight on shot.

As you said, this is obviously HDR. It's pretty extreme here, but it works well for old buildings, bringing out the grain and other detail, as well as the clouds, which were fortunate.

The exposure is good. I like the room above and below the building. The sides give me sort of a claustrophobic feeling. Perhaps backing up some or widening to the forbidden square format would reduce that feeling. You used a very wide angle lens, but you fortunately don't have the wide-angle distortion.

The tree appears to be coming out of the roof, which wouldn't surprise me since the vent indicates there is no roof. This may be difficult to avoid while still getting the angle you want, and is definitely less objectionable than a tree coming out of someone's head, and it does add to the rustic look, but I think it would be better if it was more to the right. It is good that you had it to the right of the roof peak, and maybe that's as far as you could push it and still get the picture you wanted.

The bars or cables across the front of the house also detract from it. I don't know if it would be legal in advanced editing to clone or spot heal them out of there. It is more than power lines, so removal may be illegal. It would be worth clearing with SC before deadline.

With the above exceptions I think this is a well done shot. You may be correct about people being tired of HDR, but you basically got a 6, which is a very good score (at least I love them!). Keep it up. Let me know via PM if you have any questions or anything.