Japanese Macaque

[Jasper Doest]

I photographed this Japanese macaque last year....and during one very cold day I wanted to emphasize the harsh conditions that these monkeys were in...so I went for a slightly dark approach. I've searched through the viewfinder for an interesting composition....and came up with this centered one....curious what you think of it.

Canon EOS1Dmk2N
Canon EF17-40/4.0L USM @ 36mm
1/250 @ f/8.0
ISO200, RAW
Handheld, fillflash

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Jasper,
I like this. It is a kind of dreamy image. The way I view centerd composition is different. If the eyes are not dead at the centre, it works for me. Infact I find it more appealing to place the eyes on or above the top line in the rule of thirds, when centering the subject.

I also like the triangular form of the macaque. Overall I like it.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Jasper, like with most of these snow monkey images, I love the atmosphere created by the mist and of course the facial expressions of these characters and their funky hairstyles. In this image I also like the patterns of the ripples in the water. All this I think already makes for a strong image, whether the monkey is place in the centre or more off-centre or even a bit tighter cropped. Yet I do think you made a good choice in this case by putting the monkey in the centre. Now the half-round shaped ripples in the water kind of frame it nicely in the bottom half and the triangular shape of the monkey that Sabyasachi mentioned goes well with that. The fact that the monkey has its head/body slightly turned away instead of looking straight into the camera gives this a less centered look. All together another stunning Macaque image.

[D. Robert Franz]

I'm good with this comp. Works well. As usual the mist and monkeys expressions make for great images....