* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #839 / Revived #059 on 2024 05 15 *

Your canine friend continues to serve as a lovely model for you, and appears here to be warily waiting for instructions from you. I would like a better look at that creature, which I have never even heard of. Is it something like a porcupine? I cannot tell which end of it is its fore and which is its aft. Definitely one I will have to google and see more of. I don't blame her for leaving it be.

I think I'd raise the shadows a bit on the photo of the dog, with her being a dark color and in a shaded area it's hard to see her details.

Yes they are something like a porcupine but with a much different evolutionary path.
The head is on the right side in that pic.
They are timid and will burrow if they feel threatened. If not disturbed - like by a dog - it's possible to get a photo or two and I will be on the lookout now.

www.newscientist.com/definition/echidnas/ with a cute pic
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echidna

Yes a raise in shadows was better all round.

I looked at this image a few times and thought about it. Then I read minniev and things clarified. I agree with what she has said but not with her cropping suggestion.
The issue is the dark area on the right. Minniev's crop is understandable but then I'd find the horizontal/vertical proportion to be odd. For me, the image would need to be square for this to work. The more I look at the original, the more the proportions feel right. The dark area also started to feel OK. It isn't just shadow. There's enough dappled detail here for it to be explored. The wider format and the diagonal line of leaves on the right takes us to the darker areas. Theres a transition from light to reflected detail in the shade that appealed to me.

As Bryan says, Echidnas may look like porcupines but they are a totally different genus. If it is OK with Bryan, I'll post a shot I have of a close up of the face of one of these little critters. Friendly little animals that can become quite domesticated and at home around a garden.

Kelpie breeds are always alert looking and they live for the chance to work with a human. Just as the photo shows. He may be resting in the appealing soft green grass but the eyes are fixed on the owner. Let's go. Let's round them up boss. A portrait that brings out character.

The mini series illustrates your text well, and I agree with Mike & Minnie, that the brightened version is a lovely portrait of the dog, and brings its eager and attentive character across very well. In its own way that is true of the second photo too. We only see a spiny cushion, as the echidna has done its best to hide itself from the perceived threat.

Pete

Actually I like the photo as it is. The bottom right is a bit dark, bit it transitions well to the top left, which is bright, and the flowers are shown off well against the dark water. As Mike says, there is enough detail in the reflections for the dark corner to remain interesting and not feel empty.

Pete

Yes, the anthropomorphism is what attracted me too, and now that Minnie has pointed out the owl, I cannot unsee it!

That’s a good point about the colour too.

Pete

Another thing, which I like, is the bar of green at the top, whose paint appears to be in good condition, and acts as an interesting counterpoint to the flaking surface on the rest of the wall.

Pete

As I mentioned in my own post this week, I really like a good juxtaposition in Street photography, and these are great examples. I would have been very pleased with either, so to get two is exceptional, and not only that, but illustrating the two very different emotions of agony and ecstasy is just superb.

Pete

I think the phone tries to do a computational HDR trick to bring detail into the distance, but actually letting it go towards black would probably be preferable. It is not the hazy distance, which bothers me though, but just the hazy effect it has had on the tip of the headland. That said, I agree with Minnie, that there is still lots to like with the image.

Pete

If his hand had been holding the handle and his gaze was in front of him, this would just have been a boy with an umbrella, and probably not cause a second glance from the viewer. As it is, his body posture and no hands attitude pose questions for the viewer to think about, and then notice the red triangle, which subconsciously draws attention, the lines, the handle and umbrella leading towards the sky. The umbrella draws attention to the cloud, which embraces and frames it and, in turn, its whiteness contrasts with and draws attention to the delicate pattern and colour of the umbrella. (Nice umbrella, by the way!)
So maybe you didn’t intend a great photographic story, but you got one anyway.

Pete

Yes of course. A photo showing it's face will give others the chance to see what I couldn't show. It is interesting how some animals that are naturally wary of humans in the wild can become accustomed to humans. Some years ago we had one that used to walk down the side of the fence at night, rustling the dry leaf litter.

Except she is an Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler)... 😉

Thank you Pete.

Thanks Bryan. Echidna face attached. The long nose is for getting at ants. Those are cobwebs across the face.

Ps. Re Blue Hellers/Kelpies. Without wanting to be too pedantic, kelpies are in the bloodline of heelers.