Evening Nanny

Hi Brad. Kudos for your stalking abilities. However, I do wonder why you elected to cut off the upper portion of the back. Personal decision of course but I think I would prefer either the entire body, or a very tight crop/zoom in of the head as a portrait. The image quality and setting are wonderful though! The rock she is standing on creates a nice diagonal.

addendum: Brad, had to come back and look at this one again. I may have been unfairly judgemental about your composition. Nothing wrong with having the frame cut through the upper portion of the body. If anything perhaps a bit more room at the bottom. Composition is very subjective so I thought I needed to revise my critique.

I love the way she is staring at you Brad. Great clarity and detail in those eyes as well as the fur coat. I understand Gary's (initial) reaction about the composition; for me also it does not really work. The question is why doesn't it work and that is always difficult to explain in words, largely because it involves personal preferences. Shooting vertical, including the entire animals could have worked better IMO. If this is FF, I would try a tight vertical crop.

I agree with Gary. You must have been pulled all the way back to 100 mm?

Thanks for the feedback, it is why I enjoy NPN so much. I see the point with the cut-off concern, part of the story would be the conditions of the moment when capturing wildlife. She had just climbed over a rock outcrop about the same time as I came over another from the opposite direction, thankfully she did not immediately bolt, thus allowing me this low angle POV 400mm capture. See what you think of the tighter crop, it seems on my monitor that the facial details remain.

The repost seems like an improvement to me. I would still like to see a little more room at the bottom.... (demanding).

Brad,
The limitations of a prime lens for framing are a nuisance, but it is good to get close.
The re-post looks better to me

I like the way the subject is engaging the view with a gaze. Really nice image. I'm not bothered by the crop... either version. A little more room at the bottom would be nice, especially if mating and/or framing this shot as a print.