First Critique This Time ;)

[Smith2688]

Alright, ignoring the lack of any detail the sky, what do you suggest?

I have a feeling there might be a bit too much sharpening.

Panasonic Fz20 - a little USM and 10-15 boost in saturation.

 

[JohnMF]

I think the giraffe (sp) blends into the background too much, maybe a shorter depth of field would have worked better. might have looked better in portrait rather than landscape too

 

[Smith2688]

Ahh I see I see thank you.

 

[JonMikal]

i will go along with the DOF as well. as it is, my eyes are not completely set on the giraffe...kinda wandering around. i would have also preferred the whole animal in portrait.

excellent colors!

 

[Smith2688]

Mmm...okay I'll try to touch it up a little in PS. Hopefully I won't make it too harsh...the background's not that far away so the DOF can't be too shallow (unless I was using a f/1.4 lens or the like, but then some of the animal would be OOF too).

Thanks for the compliment on the colors. You don't think they're too strong then?

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Of course the giraffe blends into the background. It has camouflage which is designed to do this. Because the camouflage's aim is to break up the outline of the animal when it is against the very kind of background you have got, the eye has a hard time seeing it - which is why JM's eye wanders.
Trying to fix this in PS will almost certainly result in an image that looks over-manipulated or odd if you manage to get any real separation.
Probably the best way is to keep the colours natural, select the giraffe (a lot of hard work with the lasoo tool) and reduce the contrast of the background a little. Done with care this should help.
In future try to photograph animals with camouflage away from their natural habitat - from lower down with some sky behind, or with the bg so far back you can get it well out of focus.
The latter will require a largeish aperture - tricky when the light is bright. ND filters become essential.

 

[Smith2688]

Oh okay. I'll try the contrast instead then. I was wondering how I'd handle the tree versus the rest of the background, since they're all at different distances, in order to make it all look natural.