Hello,
My first post to the critique forum, so please don't be too hard on me .

In the spirit of this week's assignment "Out of Place", I went to the local Zoo to capture some creatures that were certainly not in their correct place. I did not have much time so I was unable to capture as many shots as I would have liked, but I think I came up with a couple that can work. The "caged" motif is patently obvious in the Lemur image (with the focus on the hands/feet clasped to the cage wire), but the eyes of the Colobus Monkey seem to draw more emotion (for me), with the surroundings providing the subtle clue that this in not its natural habitat.

Anyway, let me know which you feel is a better candidate for this week's assignment (if that is allowed). Of course any improvements you feel I can make to the images themselves is very much welcome.

Thanks

I like both of these.
I think the lemur would have worked better if you had used more DOF to get its eyes in focus as well. Its posture says a lot though.
The focus on the eyes of the Colobus would probably evoke a more emotional response from most people, and therefore might be the better choice for the WA.

mrchile,
Thanks for the response. It was tough decision on the Lemur - I wanted to draw attention to the bars (and I also found the shape and texture of the feet interesting), thus the shallow DOF. However, I know that not having the eyes in focus is a big distraction for most folks.

They work better for me cropped tighter...

cgardner,
Thank you very much for your comments - I agree with your suggestion for a tighter crop on both of these. I had already cropped them some - I just didn't go far enough.

It was also suggested that I erase the hairs near the chain - I'll take care of those as well and re-post.