I'd like some honest feedback on these Squirrel Monkey photos...

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gatomoteado

gatomoteado

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These photos were taken on my rain forest property on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. I'm interested in everyone's thoughts on image quality, composition and post processing.

This first photo is a mother with her baby. I had noticed that the mothers were getting tired of running through the trees with their babies on their backs and so they would take these little mini-naps of less than a minute. Luckily I was able to get this clear shot of this behavior with no other monkeys photo-bombing the shot.
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 500mm f/5.6 PF
1/500 @ f/5.6 @ ISO 720

qNoKbwx.jpg



The second photo is of two mothers, each with a baby, all in one pile.
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 300mm f/4 PF
1/500 @ f/4 @ ISO 360

QrfQBsJ.jpg
 
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I quite like the photos. Technically the colour is superb and they are razor sharp. Like the composition of the first, best -- that sloped bamboo (?) branch. Those the full stack of monkeys in the second shot is great.
 
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Exposure and sharpness are fine, and the general framing is good. Why are the faces are not looking at the camera? The lack of eye contact or faces at least somewhat toward the camera is a major issue most of the time. There are always exceptions, but I'd want all faces toward the camera and would prefer eye contact. I know that's picky - but that's the kind of detail that makes a great image. 99% of the time the subject needs to be looking toward the camera.

If you are considering an unusual angle or pose, do a search for the subject on Getty Images. See how your image stacks up in terms of the pose, lighting, etc.. Keep in mind they have a lot of free materials that is not very good, but they mainly have editorial quality images.

Squirrel Monkey Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images

Browse Getty Images' premium collection of high-quality, authentic Squirrel Monkey stock photos, royalty-free images, and pictures. Squirrel Monkey stock photos are available in a variety of sizes and formats to fit your needs.
www.gettyimages.com
 
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EricBowles said:
Exposure and sharpness are fine, and the general framing is good. Why are the faces are not looking at the camera? The lack of eye contact or faces at least somewhat toward the camera is a major issue most of the time. There are always exceptions, but I'd want all faces toward the camera and would prefer eye contact. I know that's picky - but that's the kind of detail that makes a great image. 99% of the time the subject needs to be looking toward the camera.

If you are considering an unusual angle or pose, do a search for the subject on Getty Images. See how your image stacks up in terms of the pose, lighting, etc.. Keep in mind they have a lot of free materials that is not very good, but they mainly have editorial quality images.

Squirrel Monkey Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images

Browse Getty Images' premium collection of high-quality, authentic Squirrel Monkey stock photos, royalty-free images, and pictures. Squirrel Monkey stock photos are available in a variety of sizes and formats to fit your needs.
www.gettyimages.com
Click to expand...
Thank you, Eric....yes, I agree about getting the subjects to look at you. In these two cases, however, I was happy to get the interesting behaviors documented. As you can imagine, I have a lot of shots, since these monkeys come right up to my house very often, and I have some nice shots with eye contact from the babies and plenty I have yet to even review and process. Here's an interesting shot where the baby was looking right at me:

dj34H4G.jpg
 
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I love squirrel monkeys, just so cute and so fun to photograph. Lucky you to have them in your backyard! Great image quality and good composition. That first shot would have been much improved if the mom had been looking your way but the baby is very cute. The other shot posted after does not work as well from my viewing standpoint, perhaps if you cropped in on that shot with the baby as the primary subject? I love the group shot and I think there are enough faces to make it a very nice shot. I know how fast these guys are moving at times and I think you are doing a great job at getting shots based on what you've just posted. Lovely light.
 
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Viathelens said:
I love squirrel monkeys, just so cute and so fun to photograph. Lucky you to have them in your backyard! Great image quality and good composition. That first shot would have been much improved if the mom had been looking your way but the baby is very cute. The other shot posted after does not work as well from my viewing standpoint, perhaps if you cropped in on that shot with the baby as the primary subject? I love the group shot and I think there are enough faces to make it a very nice shot. I know how fast these guys are moving at times and I think you are doing a great job at getting shots based on what you've just posted. Lovely light.
Click to expand...
Thank you.
 
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Image quality is excellent. Compositionally, the first one is better than the second. I prefer the presentation on the diagonal and the second has a distracting highlight to the RHS. But that's being picky. These are wildlife shots and I would have been grateful to capture either or both.
 
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