Elk look fake??

[dugzphoto]

I took this pic a couple years ago in Yellowstone National Park. The Elk looks fake to me, how could I have framed it or composed it to look better

[Leilani-m]

Hello! I'm not a pro, but a photo looks overexposed and washed out to me.
You could try to adjust levels and maybe boost the colours a little bit. Also, I think it would look better if you crop some of the left side.
Other option would be to go BW, and then play with contrast and brightnes.

This is my beginners point of view, maybe someone with more experience will have some better idea

I played a bit with this pic in photoshop. If you like it, I can tell you exactly what I did.
If you don't agree with posting altered picture here, let me know and I will remove it.

[Laurenbiz]

Yes I agree that the original photo seems too bright, and the colors seem 'flat.' I like the edit.

The elk looks very real, in my opinion :-)

[Slyanius]

Don't have anything helpful to add except that the elk looks like it has only 3 legs. :P

[windrider86]

Do you have exif information? It may help to know what your camera settings were

[RonCar10]

The pop added in PP helped, but the composition is very static also. Taking animals is very challenging - they just won't pose, so it takes a great deal of patience to catch them in a good position for composition. I am always hoping for something that makes the composition more dynamic or for lighting that can add drama to the photo.