I'd try to shoot much lower down, along the level of the salamander.
Second feels far too cut off. The first is better in this regard, in part because of the shallower depth of field.
Background on third is too distracting upper right.
Best overall in 1.
Lighting in pretty good on all.
Good luck.
Scott
They all seem a bit overexposed (too bright). This causes the background(s) (which is not pretty) to compete with the subject. I would reprocess with less exposure from raw. And possibly selectively reduce the saturation of the leaves.
For a wildlife magazine shot, I would think more depth would be better.
thanks for the C&C - these shots were done inside on a quick setup - I'll definitely rethink using a different background, vary my DOF, and work with filling the frame with my subject rather than cutting off parts of it.
I think the reason for overexposure was due to the screen on my laptop - I run a 2nd monitor setup, but I'll look back over my files and see what I could have done differently.
