Great photograph.
Sorry for any confusion that the assignment description caused. We have changed the reference and removed the phrase “still photograph’. The idea was that we didn’t want you to engage in macro or close up photography. We wanted to see you apply your knowledge of simplification in composition, color, object placement and depth into a photograph with a larger perspective. You’ve managed to do a great job of that and were brave with your wide composition.
Let’s deconstruct your image based on the technical considerations that were asked of you. For starters, you have incorporated a limited color palette into your composition. The principle colors used are gradients of browns, greens and greys. All of the colors have a dusty & de-saturated look to them which helps give the image a very cohesive and organized feel.
What I like most is the incorporation of orange highlights seen on the elephants back. This helps provided a small splash of slightly more saturated color which helps add a bit of a brightness to contrast wit your otherwise dusty scene.
Your composition is also strong. Eyes are generally placed in the top 1/3 of a photograph and your image abides by that rule nicely. The rest of the image also roughly abides by the rule of thirds.
There are only two things I would like you to consider. First, your image has a middle ground (where almost all of the action is) and a background which simply provides a bit of context but most of your action is taking place in 1 layer of depth. Try experimenting with your camera’s position and try bringing it closer to the ground or using foreground objects to help create more depth.
Secondly, I would considering taking a second look and experimenting with the left frame of the photograph. You’ve cut off (amputated) quite a bit of 1 of the elephants. It’s not terrible, because it was done strategically, but I think the idea is to show “family” or “group” and I think you could have shown more the elephant’s body and especially the faces (or parts of the faces) of the other elephants.
In short, I would experiment more with camera positioning. It’s the easiest thing to change about a composition yet likely the most under-used technique.
Other than that, great work on this shot.