Kingbird in habitat

[Bob Miller]

I was excited to see this little kingbird in a field of blue flowers. But I cannot decide on how to crop this image...any ideas?
Nikon D3s
1/400 sec at f4
500 mm with 1.7 TC
shot off a pillow on car window
ISO 4500
very cloudy dim day!

[Doug West]

My first reaction would be not to crop it. With the bird looking away and leaving this image as
it is, I get a more 'lonely' type of feel as he searches...vs, lets say you crop off the left part
of the image. For me at least, now I'll be wondering what he's looking at.

Plus, by not cropping, you have a nice balance of blooms on the left and right.

The only thing I'd do is, clone out that stem that's going across the breast and to the left
of that, the other longer stem.

Doug

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Bob,

I really like this picture the habitat is just beautiful. I might take a layer off the right, work the eye a bit (lighten) and clone the intersecting stem as noted by Doug. Consider walking you eye around the edges, clean and smooth as needed. Nice composition, I feel the natural beauty of that area - thanks for posting - keep em coming.

[John Chardine]

Hi Bob- IS there any chance of extracting some detail from the heavy blacks around the face?

[Robert Kimbrell]

Bob, It's a very nice scene, I am in the no crop camp. I agree it's balanced with the high stems on each side. As mentioned . I would like to see more deatail on his face.

[Loi Nguyen]

Bob, I first looked at this photo yesterday, now came back to it. I'm with Doug in leaving the crop as is. It's a beautiful habitat and nice blooms on both the left and right. I'd like to see more of the eye. Well done.

[JustinSchnee]

I like this one just the way it is. very nice capture

[Jeannean Ryman]

I like it too as is crop wise. I'd also like to see some more of the eye, and I'd clean up the two grass stems going above the diagonal perch near the bird. Just bring them down below the perch would be good. The image has a lovely, peaceful feeling.

[Bob Miller]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions!

[Jim Thomas]

lovely as is crop wise, but as mentioned, more detail around face if possible. I would also experiment with cloning out some of the main perch stem. Something about it being so horizontal and across entire image bugs me. Shouldn't be to difficult to clip it just a bit beyond the bird and make it look natural.

Jim