On His Own

[Erik Anderson]

It looked mighty cold and lonely for this old guy. I like this picture because it gives me a "miles to go before I sleep" feeling. Olympus 510/ 70-300 @ 89mm, f.8, 1/125, ISO 400

[Kyle Marie Barcelos]

I wish the Bird was looking at you and you got closer to him, maybe even got down lower. I would clone out that old wheat hanging out by it's self. :) I'm not sure about cropping If you took some of the top then you would just have a bunch of brown dirt, so leaving the house's give you and idea that it's a farm. Great job :)

[Jay Gould]

Kyle, if the bird were looking at you, the concept of "on his own" might not work.

Erik, I like the concept; the dark far line of the plowed field is not quite level. I don't know why my eye catches even the slightest "off level" and bothers me. Hope you don't mind my pointing this out. Thanks for showing us the image.

[Kyle Marie Barcelos]

Jay I was just writing what i think, Even if the bird was turned the other way he would still be lonely, unless there was another bird in the picture. This is what a forum is about other people's opinions. You don't have to critique on my comments.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi All,
Do remember that these are opinions and you can reject or accept them.....but please respect them.
I happen to agree with Kyle Marie.......as the away look doesn't quite carry it for me. Even a portrait profile would have helped. I agree with the rotation and the image also has a few other things that could be improved......placing the bird more in the ROT position.....eliminating the grasses protruding into the frame....and in this case.....including just a bit more of the sky....even though it is bald......just to make it feel not as tight (and this is from someone who usually likes tight crops!)...this tension feels out of place for me and takes away from the vastness feel....again...this si my opinion...let's see what others feel.

[Julie Kenward]

Erik, I love the feeling you were going for and maybe this will help. Next time, get down to eye level with the bird and wait for him to turn his head about 45 degrees towards the side so you get a good portion of his face and some eye contact into the image. Then, only leave a slight portion in the FG and let the camera sprawl out before you to infinity (as you have done here.) I'd also consider adding even more "fog" in pp selectively using an ethereal glow action or a "fog" action to make the image even "smokier."

Nice attempt on this - but I really think you need the viewer to connect with the bird and that's what being at eye level with his face in view is all about. He doesn't have to be towards you but you do have to be able to "understand" what the bird is thinking/feeling and you do that with a connection to his face in most cases.

[Alfred Forns]

He Eric

For most small birds is frame they tend to work better on one of the corners, in this case lower left, would have pointed the camera up and right.

Bird looking away is just fine, he happens to be looking in that direction and you want to show what he is looking at making the image with more room to the right, a rectangular crop would be better IMO. Getting low is an option but might loose some of the plowing detail Does have a good feel and potential with a couple of changes !!!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Eric, Agree with Alfred and Roman that in this case more room to the right of the bird would be more effective. The branch in the front is distracting and I would have liked to have seen more definition in the fields.

[Erik Anderson]

Hello Everyone:
Well I see that I have managed to at least stir things up. I am not offended by anyone's remarks--you can't afford to be sensitive when you take pictures like I do.
I did not put this in the avian section because I did not intend to emphasize the beauty of the Egret,or to impress anyone with the majesty of his presence. I intend to work hard to be able to regularly take such pictures in the future, but it seems that this shot is a failure in terms of what I was trying to do. I don't like landscapes full of nondescript dirt either, but I thought the field worked here as a way to emphasize the solitude and the frailty of the bird, and to evoke a sense of hardship and compassion in the viewer. The weed bending in the wind, the sparse vegetation and the faraway, misty human habitation were all included to this end, not left there by mistake.
I didn't know where to put this image, but it seems pretty obvious that its placement in the landscape section was a mistake--that and the use of the Egret as an element in a picture posted on a forum devoted primarily to birding. These created expectations in the viewers that worked against the picture. I read Robert Amoroso's thread on "What is a Landscape?" and agree with some comments there to the effect that we should consider an open category where orphan pictures like this can be displayed without any preconceived ideas about the treatment of various subjects.
My world would be diminished if I could not receive the frank opinions of such a talented and experienced group of photographers. Please don't worry that I might be offended by harsh remarks. I have been married for 25 years, and am used to it.

[Dave Mills]

Eric, I beg to differ with regarding this image not being a landscape. It has all the elements of a landscape from the foreground,middleground and backround. No one can get into your head on exactly what you were thinking when you took the image. All we can do is comment on what we feel has strong elements or weak elements within the image.Whether the image has impact and what message does it convey to the individual viewer.
Remember, you are the final arbiter of your work. We can suggest and recommend but you make the final decisions on what you consider valid or not.

[Jay Gould]

Jay I was just writing what i think, Even if the bird was turned the other way he would still be lonely, unless there was another bird in the picture. This is what a forum is about other people's opinions. You don't have to critique on my comments.

Kyle, first since you were offended I apologize.

Second, IMO, my commenting upon your comment is no different than a discussion agreeing or disagreeing about a particular crop of level of saturation.

No offense was intended.

[Kyle Marie Barcelos]

Erik I do feel like this picture is a landscape. People may not get what you are trying to tell all the time, I'm new at all this and i always don't get a good critique on my photo's but i still love my picture and nobody can take that away from me, but i will try different techniques from the advise i was given. So keep up the good work. And never give up :)

Dear Jay, I just want to leave my comments for the picture I'm critiquing , Thanks