Cormorant Confrontation

[Mike Landwehr]

The cormorant on the left is just landing atop the piling, forcing the cormorant on the right off his spot. I'd love to have a better HA for the bird on the left :e3. I considered clipping off the right-hand bird's right wing tip, which extends into the upper right corner. Any opinions? Suggestions always welcome.

1D Mark IV
500 mm
ISO 200
1/2000 @ f/5.6
Tripod

[Bob Serling]

Nice exposure on the birds and the expressions are great. I agree on clipping off the wing tip. However, there are two points that make this shot less than it could be, in my opinion. The first is the HA as you mentioned. Without more detail on the face of the bird on the left, especially the eye, the picture loses interest for me. Also, and this may just be my own personal prejudice, there are few photos I've seen by anyone that don't suffer when the perch is man made.

[Gerald Kelberg]

I like the interaction on this one - you've caught the moment. Yes, the perfect shot would have had perfect head angles for both the subjects, but to me there is enough going on that the shot works.

Clipping the wing wouldn't be my choice, but your call. Cropping that right edge in to reduce the space by about 2/3 changes the dynamic of the shot and makes the wingtip less of a "spare part", in my view.

Most shots of cormorants squabbling over a perch on a piling are going to feature a man-made object to some degree - it is part of the story - so I'd just accept it as such.

Thanks for sharing,

Gerald