Todd, the eye contact and carcass are great. Also, the wolf has a tremendous amount of character in its face. Unusual shape and pelage. All good.
What puts it over the top for me is the sagebrush. As well as making a nice fairly high-key setting for the darker subjects in the image, it marks this as a western photograph, and wolves out west are still not that common. Getting a wild wolf at an actual wolf kill anywhere is a very tough thing, so this brings even higher marks, especially since the area is not all torn up.
Excellent work.
The eyes/snout seem a bit soft to me. If they seem soft to you, too, a bit of selective sharpening would take care of business.
Last edited by Steve Foss; 06-27-2008 at 06:25 PM.
Kudos for pulling this one off. Steve hit this one on the head. Frame it and hang it. Love the eye stare and sagebrush. The kill is a bonus and as is the real deal image or subject.
Last edited by Grady Weed; 07-01-2008 at 12:00 PM.
Reason: spelling
That's a keeper! Having spent a fair amount of time in Yellowstone, I can appreciate the extreme difficulty of just being able to see a wolf at this close range let alone having the great fortune to find one on a kill and the skill required to capture this "back off" behavior. Keep up the good work.