Sage Grouse

[Sarah Jessup]

I photographed this Sage Grouse in Oregon last March, using a Nikon D200 with 200-400VR lens at 380 mm, f 6.3, 1/350 sec, ISO 640.

[Judd Patterson]

Welcome Sarah! You have a beautiful subject here and I love the way that there are some habitat details around the bird. My first suggestion would be to zoom out a little bit more to give room for the feet that are down in the grass. You'll see mention of "virtual feet" around here to indicate that even if the feet are obscured in an image, it is often advisable to try and give them enough room. Compositionally, I also think that the bird might look better shifted to the left. Given the room that you have around the subject, I think it's nice to see a bit more room on the side that holds the birds gaze. Great work and I hope you can get back out to see these guys this spring...I'd love to someday. :)

[Sarah Jessup]

Judd,
Thank you for your thoughts. I am submitting a less cropped version to see what you think.

[Anita Rakestraw]

Sarah, what a neat bird and lucky you to have been able to get so close! I love the way those Nikons resolve detail and sharpness! Altho I too like the closeups, I do like your resubmitted version with more space around the bird. You could maybe crop just a small portion from the bottom and left to take him out of the exact center of the frame. I do wish the dark part of his face and neck were a bit lighter.

[Michael Lloyd]

What a gorgeous bird. I love the angle. You must have been down on the ground with him. I like the second image best but I agree with Anita that a less centralize / more rule-of-thirds crop would make the image a little better. I also would like to see the head area be a little brighter. Nice work!

[Judd Patterson]

Sarah, it's great that you have a wider original image to work with here. I think you could crop just a little off the bottom and a bit off the left side and you'd be left with a really nice composition. Working to open up (brighten) the shadows around the face is a great suggestion that Michael made.

[Sarah Jessup]

Judd, Anita, and Michael,
I appreciate the suggestions. Here's a slightly different crop, with a lighter face. Should I lighten it more than this?
Sarah

[Stephen Stephen]

Sarah I like the overall image and the brightness in the last re-worked version. I may be wrong but when I read the suggestions from Judd and Anita I understood that they were suggestion to crop some of the left side of the frame not the left side of the bird.

I've only seen this display behaviour on television documentaries. It must have been exciting to see it in real life.

[Sarah Jessup]

Stephen,
Duh! I believe you are right. I cropped the wrong side.
It is amazing to see the behavior. The sound is something that unfortunately can't be included in a photograph.
I'm trying with one more version here.
Sarah

[Robert Smith]

I think the last one is the best one yet - and a keeper. The composition looks much better with room for this bird to move further into the frame.

Aren't they neat to see! Congrats on capturing this part of the mating ritual..

[Nonda Surratt]

It has been really good to see your progression with this photo. The last crop does it, lovely Grouse in habitat!