Close up Least Sandpiper

[Isaac Grant]

Here is the type of shot I never really post. Don't often have the chance to get so close to shorebirds. I have some more conventional shots from the other night but I wanted opinions on if a crop like this works or a shot like this works. This is cropped a bit from full frame. The legs in the RAW are cut off by a rock just below where I have cropped them. Also I have some more of the bird to the left but it is not the whole bird. I really like the closeup look and the details here but as I never take shots like this am not comfortable with the crop. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Canon 7d2 and Canon 500 f4 ii + 1.4x iii (wish the converter was in my pocket but it wasn't). F7.1, ISO 400, SS 1/1250. Tripod mounted while laying on the wet flats

Converted in DPP 4. Auto White Balance. In PS I cropped as above, sharpened and applied noise reduction to background.

[gail bisson]

Hi Isaac,
I understand your concerns. I think it is very difficult to crop this in a pleasing manner. I think you need the feet at the bottom of the frame or another option would be to go really tight and just include the head and a some of the neck.
The IQ and light are excellent.
I would clone out the extra catchlight in the eye and remove the specular highlight on the bill.
I would also darken the yellowish area on the RHS of the frame or clone it out.
Gail

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hey Isaac, nice detail, colors and soft background. You asked for suggestions on cropping this image. I would do something like this finding a pleasing size crop showing what you think are important and rotating the image to an angle that fits and appears pleasing.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like Joe's crop, but I am not the type to crop my images so much. I agree with Gail having the full leg and foot would have been ideal, but as posted your OP features too much space above the sandpiper IMO. The thin white line along the bottom edge, touching the leg, is also distracting to me. I love the details, light, and most of the BG. These guys can come real close, to MFD if laying there still, such fun birds as are all the peeps!

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks for the responses. I guess the real question is what is a good crop of a shorebird? Saying the legs should be there means we should have what the whole front of the bird? Cut off the back part? Just don't crop a shorebird at all? Daniel I agree that I also do not like to crop my images so much. With regards to this image once you go past a certain point the image quality degrades too much to make it a keeper. Cropping in to only the head in my opinion makes the image a delete. But assuming I had the pixels I do like the crop that you did Joseph.

[annmpacheco]

Hi Isaac,
IMO I don't like to crop birds, only a very tight head shot, other than that I always have the entire bird. I also leave room indicating where the birds feet are for example if they were standing in water, etc, ... Your IQ is terrific, just not a fan of half a bird!

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks for the reply. I don't ever crop birds. That is one of the reasons I posted the last 2 pics that I did. Good learning experience for me and I very much like to hear what others say about it and find appealing. I have seen some very nice crops of waterfowl, pelicans, storks and things like that but never find that I like my images when I crop them. Anyway thanks for the input. Much appreciated.

[Bill Dix]

I've been known to crop a bird or two, for a tight head shot; but this one is tough. If you don't have the pixels for a really tight head shot, and don't have the feet, then I think your OP is about the best you can do with it. But it does leave one wishing to see the whole bird. Sometimes they just approach too close to you, making you wish you had taken off the converter.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Sometimes they can come real close, in which point a portrait makes perfect sense. Composition and cropping is mostly subjective. Here is a Sanderling that came close enough for full-frame portraits a couple of years ago - gives a sense of what type of close up works for me:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/123342-Sanderling-Portrait?highlight=sanderling+portrait