Red Eft

[Christopher Miller]

Found this little guy in my backyard a couple days ago. I got down on the ground to capture some head-on images. I wish there wasn't the grass stem right beneath his head, but unfortunately that's the result of his being in the grass. Would greatly appreciate feedback on the DOF, the composition, and anything else you notice.

Olympus SP-550 UZ
f4.5 @ 1/50, ISO 100, -0.7 EV
Aperture priority mode, pattern metering, cloudy WB
Processed in PS CS2; cropped, curves adjustment, noise reduction, a little cloning on the BG, and blurred the leaf in the LRC

[Julie Kenward]

Christopher, nice angle and a great in-your-face presentation!

I think the one thing I noticed right off the bat was all the white marks on his face - if you aren't against it, I'd clone those out and let that cute smile shine through. The same goes for the BG - just a few areas where the white could easily be turned green and leave fewer distractions in the image.

I like that the front leg and face are well in focus but the body feels a bit lost. I wonder if you had scooted just a tad bit more to the left if you would have been able to get more of him in focus and possibly even overted the bit of grass beneath his chin.

All of this is minor pickiness on my part...overall I really like the image. It's totally got me smiling!

[Christopher Miller]

Thanks, Jules. I hadn't even noticed the white marks on his face before you mentioned them. I'll see about cloning them out as you suggested. Looking through the other pictures I took, I do have another shot that was taken a little more to the left that I'll see about posting tomorrow.

[Beth Goffe]

This little guy is too cute! I also noticed the white marks before anything else. I don't mind the grass blades beneath his face - after all, he is crawling around in the grass! I also like his little toes front and center. One nice element I'm finding in this forum is color and how subjects either pop or are complementary with the backgrounds. I love the orange on green in this one.

[Alfred Forns]

Agree with Beth This really pops and its high impact !!! I like how you zeroed in on the eye and got it sharp !!! fine image I really like it !!!!

[Joe Senzatimore]

I too love the sharpness of the eye and I think the comp. is great as well. I agree about the white spots on the face and I wish for a little more DOF. The colors pop very well.

[Christopher Miller]

Thanks, guys. Here it is with the white marks removed and the BG evened out a bit more. Thanks for suggesting the changes, they definitely improved it!

I've posted another photo of this guy in a new thread that might be a little better in the DOF department.