Cattle Egret - India

[Nagesh Mula]

I cloned the bird from center to the current position as i do not want to crop in this case. I would like to know your opinion on this.
Made this picture with EOS 50D.
100-400mm @ 400
-1/3
1/2000
ISO - 400

Thanks.

[Randy Stout]

Nagesh:

Because the habitat is relatively simple and uniform, I am not sure you gained a lot by having all the area to the right. You can see some cloning artifacts on the right side of the neck. The light angle was pretty far to the right, leaving the face and part of neck in the shadows. The eye does stand out very well, and the whites were well exposed.

I will be curious what others think about the composition.

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

[Dave Phillips]

agree with Randy mostly, esp about the bg being so uniform.
I did just a wee bit of burning on a soft light layer to sort of
shape the area with incoming light that draws the eye to the egret.
Softened neck shadow a bit also....blue channel a bit blocked up.....all that green/yellow foliage!!
Just a thought....and an option

[Randy Stout]

Dave:

I think that is a significant improvement, the simple adjustment in relative brightness on the background does give more sense of form and interest to me. I think this is a nice option! I would probably crop it differently, but as always, that is personal taste.

Randy

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi Nagesh! Here is my take, and you probably know most of it: Sidelighting is evident, resulting most notably the uneven lighting of the bill. Sidelighting, and the contrast created, is especially detrimental to avian images, although in general photography it has its place!
The vast expanse of monotonous geen foliage? I can see no advantage, and even a novice would wonder why you couldn't get closer. There are cases that something similar can work, most notible in the graphic arts, but this would require all foliage to be in sharp focus(no focus gradient) and there should be repitition of very similar, yet not identical, elements.
Compositionally I would include important elements, and eliminate those that aren't. Using compostional frameworks, such as the rule of thirds (there are others) should be your guide. Visuallizing how you want the image to be is an important step while you are looking through the viewfinder. There are decisions that are best made while taking the photo. Using image editors later to clone major elements to move them, as opposed to the other option of cropping for position, is very difficult and quite time consuming with complicated backgrounds. Simple backgrounds, such as a blue sky, make this much easier, but selection and/or masking often makes it too much trouble. Cropping for composition is a valuable tool, especially when the framing in camera was roughly correct. Large changes to this often requires creating new canvas by using the clone stamp tool along with existing parts of the image. This is not ideal, time consuming, and sometimes not worth the effort. Getting it right originally is far better

I would make it a ready practice to not have you subject centered while teking the picture. The focusing aid is in the center, and it is easy to fall into the trap, but most cameras have the option of locking the focus(partially depressing the shutter button) and then composing.
regards~Bill

[Juan Aragonés]

A different opinion here. I like the composition with lots of room at the right. The problem is that it is a bit distracting, if the Bg were OOF and the bird and foreground in focus there would be much, much better. Sidelight is problematic but I think it works fine here and I do not mind the shadows in the face because the eye is very good. Dave´s repost is a serious improvement IMO. I totally agree with William about the cloning job. Too much for my taste and you left very obvious evidences of the job in the image (repeated patterns in the center of the frame). :-)

[Sabyasachi Patra]

If I am photographing a cattle egret with this much of space, then I would compose it the same way as Nagesh. However, I would try for a lower angle to get the background oof. I would also use a lower aperture.

At times, it is not possible to get into the water or get a lower angle. If the background is not out of focus, then I would use a narrow aperture and give up some of the shutter speed. It is easier to use the outer AF point of the 50D. Else, use the focus recompose technique. Since the Cattle egrets are not that skittish, MF can also be easily used.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi