Tree Sparrow among the easy white highlows

[Jack Breakfast]

Hello! I present this picture for your acceptance and/or rejection! It was taken with the Canon 7D and the 100-400 at 400mm. iso1600, 1/500, f5.6
Good greetings to all the birdfriends high and low

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[Marina Scarr]

There's a lot about this image that I like, Jack, but I think it can be improved with a different composition. Love the white out effect, raised tootsie and the little twig. The right crop would give it more umph.

[Jack Breakfast]

Hi Marina, and thank you. I get so sick of the leave space where the bird is going/looking "rule" that sometimes my brain forces me to do things in other ways. Of course I see the logic but aesthetically I often disagree. There are so many good places you can put a bird! It's really true! People think me facetious when I say "why not leave room where the bird has been" but really I mean it! I have different versions of this picture with more and less neg. space, but I keep coming back to the one above. I would welcome any and all compositional suggestions!
I do like this alternate version, and would be curious to hear what you think?

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[Bill Dix]

Very nice, Jack. Maybe I've been brainwashed, but I like the repost better. You might even take a bit off the top and still get the impact of the little bird alone with his stick.

[Marina Scarr]

I wholeheartedly agree with you, Jack. I would like to see photographers thinking more out of the box as you do. However, in this case, the stick is an important element of the image. I feel that with these crops, it gets a little lost, although I do prefer the 2nd version.

[gail bisson]

I like the repost better in terms of comp but you have lost the mottled blue and white which gave the impression that the bird was walking on clouds.
Gail

[Jack Breakfast]

Marina, I agree with you RE that sweet little stick! Shall come back to this one.
And Bill: no brainwashing! Unlike the golden ratio, which has proven itself to be pleasing to many cultures over the centuries, I genuinely do not understand why so many eyes are drawn to the "leave room where the bird is looking" business!
Any more ideas? Even if you don't like this picture at all, I would welcome your compositional/cropping suggestions. ESPECIALLY if you don't like it!!

[Jack Breakfast]

Gail! That was dumb of me! I went back to an alternate version accidentally and lost the clouds. BAD BREAKFAST! Of course you're right about the snow clouds!!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Jack, just as a suggestion: going from the repost, you could place the subject either higher or lower in the frame by removing half of the space either top or bottom. Apart from that I like the simplicity of the image. I do wish the little twig was bigger and a wee bit more complex though.

[Jack Breakfast]

Alright, my fellow Ontarian, I do appreciate your thoughts! But wishing twigs were bigger and more complex will get us nowhere. This twig can only be what it can be...
(If I were a different man, less uptight maybe, I would have inserted a goofy "emoticon" after that last sentence, but I cannot bring myself to do it. But anyhow, I'm smiling.)

[Daniel Cadieux]

I agree with you Jack...saying "wish" is just that. I have lots of wishes for many of my photos but those are what they are.