Up or Down?

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Sony A-700 /Sony 70-400G/ Sony HVL-F56AM
1/1250 sec~F5.6~ISO500 Manual Exposure 7:30PM 6-5-09 Surfside, Texas.
In my never ending pursuit to create the perfect black skimmer feeding shot I came up with this duo; one with wings up, other down. I'm not sure which wing position is better.
Compositionally, two equal focal points is usually not a good idea; since the viewer gets caught up going back and forth, over and over. However there are geometric relationships that seem to tie the two together.
The right wing of the right bird is slightly out of focus. Oh well.
It is also unlikely the flash had much effect at the shutter speed.
So the question is which is better, actually which do you like better. Up or down?
Sure, any critique appreciated. Hit me with your best shot.
Regards~Bill

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I really like the light and the crop!

[Fabs Forns]

I'd rather see them separately and wish we cold see the eyes.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi William Is this one image?

[Nagesh Mula]

If this is one image, then its Amazing. But if its a combination of more than one image and you want to know our opinion then I would go with the left side. ofcourse with a little more definition to eye.

[Jay Gould]

A second vote; if it is one image then it is Amazing and I wouldn't separate them!! IMHO

[Dave Mills]

I would choose the left image. Agree with your self analysis that the viewers interest is divided. Would only use one...

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Thanks guys. It is not a composite! I realize I should have pointed that out. Now if it had been a composite it would definitely require my disclosure.
Regardless, I would not separate the image. I have plenty of other images that have much closer views of individual skimmers. Want two? Well they will have to be smaller in the frame. This is about a 60% crop, maybe a little less. The detail about the eye, and indeed more detail overall, would require much more of a close up. This is often a consideration on how large you want the image in the frame(not cropping). Closer, more detail.
Personally, getting both skimmers in the frame, with opposite wing positions, and reasonable focus, seemed pretty good, and compositional deficiencies seemed an appropriate sacrifice.
Oh, by the way, seriously, I think there is agreement that the left bird is better, at least it was my opinion originally. So I'll place more emphasis on those when choosing what of hundreds of such images I should work on. regards~Bill

[Stu Bowie]

Bill, amazing to have captured these two with opposite postures in the same frame. I prefer the wing down posture, one gets to see more detail from the underwing.