Little observer

[Gigi71]

After a long time I am here now once again! Belated happy new year to everyone
A few weeks ago we visited the PHAENO, a fabulous world of science and experience, great place for the whole family. While I tried to catch some imressions, I somehow felt monitored... well, caught this cheeky monkey!
I would be pleased to read your opinion and critics.

[Gigi71]

...oops, observer it should have been...

[Geoff F]

Works for me; except, the left side highlights are a little too bright and on the right the edge of the solid area is just visible beyond the slot. I would either show more of that solid part or, probably better, none of it. Just a little bit of cloning should be sufficient.

[Shadowman]

Nice.

[FootLoose]

What a great subject, Brigitte. I don't think it needs all of the black areas at top and bottom. Have you tried a 16x9 crop on this? That would still leave a bit of the dark areas for the context and focus more on the eyes.

[Dave Humphries]

...oops, "observer" it should have been...

.... and now it is

Easy for me to critique after the event - but it is a minor shame the hair got focus, not the eyes

Never-the-less - well spotted

[flashback]

Gigi, welcome back! Cute shot and interesting view.

[deetheturk]

Great idea Gigi, nice to see you posing again, welcome back

[Gigi71]

Works for me; except, the left side highlights are a little too bright and on the right the edge of the solid area is just visible beyond the slot. I would either show more of that solid part or, probably better, none of it. Just a little bit of cloning should be sufficient.

Thank you Geoff, not totally sure what you mean by the solid area on the right...

[Gigi71]

Nice

Thanks, John, missed your excessive comments - I mean it!

[Gigi71]

What a great subject, Brigitte. I don't think it needs all of the black areas at top and bottom. Have you tried a 16x9 crop on this? That would still leave a bit of the dark areas for the context and focus more on the eyes.

Thank you for your kindness, Greg. I tried this, but I am doubtful if it hasn't lost some contrast by the crop. Or did you mean it another way? Would be glad if you showed me your idea

[Gigi71]

What a great subject, Brigitte. I don't think it needs all of the black areas at top and bottom. Have you tried a 16x9 crop on this? That would still leave a bit of the dark areas for the context and focus more on the eyes.

Thank you for your kindness, Greg. I tried this, but I am doubtful if it hasn't lost some contrast by the crop. Or did you mean it another way? Would be glad if you showed me your idea

[Gigi71]

.... and now it is

Easy for me to critique after the event - but it is a minor shame the hair got focus, not the eyes

Never-the-less - well spotted

Thanks for your help, Dave... once I will detect how to edit such mistakes lol.
As you see in the second image, I tried to get the hair a bit out of focus, I cut Phileas hair and he had to take up that position again. Joke

[Gigi71]

Gigi, welcome back! Cute shot and interesting view.

Thank you for the warm welcome back, Jack P. I don't know how much time I will be able to invest into photography and into sneaking in CiC in the near future (still very busy with working and family), but glad I once did it again.

[Gigi71]

Great idea Gigi, nice to see you posing again, welcome back

Thanks a lot, Dave... posing or posting?

[deetheturk]

LOL, this auto-correct has a lot to answer for, posing of course!

[Rebel]

Great subject, I prefer the first crop! Its a nice shot but as previously said, more focus on the eyes would be better.

[Geoff F]

For me, the crop is a little too tight. By all means try to reduce some of the top and bottom but the tight crop loses context.

The little bit of a line that was slightly worrying me with the first image is in the bottom right corner where there is a small vertical line which seems out of place.