Kestrel hovering

[Ofer Levy]

1D Mark II, Canon 500 f4, x1.4, 1/2000, f5.6, iso 500, HH

Another one I got of a young Nankeen Kestrel here in Sydney about 2 years ago.

Cropped from a horizontal - full frame vertical

[Leo Berzins]

Another great image, Ofer. Sharp, nice light and great background.
Have you considered extra canvas on the right?

[Ofer Levy]

Another great image, Ofer. Sharp, nice light and great background.
Have you considered extra canvas on the right?

Thanks for your comment and suggestion Leo. Personally I don't see a need for extra canvas on the right because of two reasons:
1. It will make the frame more squarish which I prefer to avoid as much as I can.
2. The head is tilted slightly to the left side of the frame.

I see what you mean though - it's all a matter of personal taste really.

Cheers,
Ofer ;)

[Lorant Voros]

This is very nice with the look back pose, the beautiful BG, it is sharp with nice colors and I like the blurred wing tips. Maybe it is a matter of personal taste, but I could imagine this as a horizontal crop with some added canvas on the right and more room on the left as well. Congratulations.

[Leo Berzins]

Thanks for the explanation Ofer.
I'm fairly new to this and I appreciate the opportunity to learn why compositional and cropping choices have been made.

[Ofer Levy]

Thanks for the explanation Ofer.
I'm fairly new to this and I appreciate the opportunity to learn why compositional and cropping choices have been made.

The best advice I can give you is to practice. Take an image and just try every possible composition and see what works for you. It is interesting how on the one hand there aren't any "rules" but on the other hand when composition is not balanced - most people will notice it straight away.

[Chris van Rooyen]

The head turn really makes this image superb Ofer. Background and light also stunning

[Norm Dulak]

Ofer:

Above all else, this is a terrific capture!

But if it were mine, I'd make it a horizontal image, by cropping away about half of the space beneath the bird, and adding space above and to the right .

My reason is that although the bird is looking somewhat to the left, its body is oriented to move up and to the right. My visual preference would be to give the bird the space to move into.

Norm Dulak

[Ofer Levy]

Ofer:

Above all else, this is a terrific capture!

But if it were mine, I'd make it a horizontal image, by cropping away about half of the space beneath the bird, and adding space above and to the right .

My reason is that although the bird is looking somewhat to the left, its body is oriented to move up and to the right. My visual preference would be to give the bird the space to move into.

Norm Dulak

Thanks for your comment and suggestion Norm!
It would be greatly appreciated if you could re-post the image with your crop suggestion.
Actually the bird is hovering mostly in the up-down axis.
Cheers,

Ofer

[Doug Brown]

Excellent image Ofer! You froze the hover beautifully, with fanned tail feathers and a great look-back pose. The light is sweet and the BG is gorgeous. Very sharp too.

[Wil Hershberger]

Another stunning image. I really like the head turn and eye contact. As you say composition is a personal thing. I might try a horizontal comp with some more room on the right. Love it as is too.

[Bill Dix]

What a lovely shot. It's already been said, but the fanned tail, colors, BG and look-back pose make this a keeper. I personally like the vertical crop as posted, but it would also be interesting to see it as horizontal with some canvas right and top. Nicely done!

[Norm Dulak]

Thanks for your comment and suggestion Norm!
It would be greatly appreciated if you could re-post the image with your crop suggestion.
Actually the bird is hovering mostly in the up-down axis.
Cheers,

Ofer

Ofer:

At the risk of doing injustice to your beautiful image, here is a repost showing what I had in mind. I hope I successfully cloned over the seams of background pieces that I put together to extend the background above and to the right of the bird.

Norm

[Jim Zipp]

Hey Ofer. When I saw the thumb I thought...... "great shot... too bad the bird is heading away from the camera".... then I opened it and see that great over the shoulder look back. Really nice image.

[Stu Bowie]

Ofer, great timing to capture the look back glance. I like the overall posture, light and colours. I would leave the comp as is.

[David Fletcher]

Yup. Fabulous shot Ofer. killer pose and eye contact and love as you presented.

[Danny J Brown]

Coming in late here Ofer but I must say this image is outstanding!!!

[arash_hazeghi]

Superb flight pose and head turn. Sharp too. TFS

[Ofer Levy]

Ofer:

At the risk of doing injustice to your beautiful image, here is a repost showing what I had in mind. I hope I successfully cloned over the seams of background pieces that I put together to extend the background above and to the right of the bird.

Norm


Thank you Norm for taking the time and re-posting the image. I really appreciate that!
I feel that this is the best way for us all to learn from each other and improve. We won't always agree about things but this is great as we can have a discussion which is always helpful to all of us.
As to your re-post, I don't feel it is an improvement of the original and even feel the composition in it is not balanced.
Few issues are: the head of the bird is almost in the centre which is usually something that should be avoided.
There isn't enough room at the bottom and to the left.
Here is a horizontal crop which I feel is more pleasing - please let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Ofer

[Rohan Kamath]

Have learnt a lot about careful composition from this discussion... Thanks to everyone who contributed...
Needless to add that this is a spectacular image... :D

-Cheers,
Rohan
__________________________________________________
Conservation begins at HOME... We CAN make a difference...

[Clement Francis]

This is nothing but a great piece of art Ofer, Just too amazing this is...

[Brian Barcelos]

Ofer, this is a superb image but I prefer the horizontal, your version with a little less room on the left. I don't know why but I stay away from verts on my images as much as possible. Congrats

[Kiran Poonacha]

great image this, loved the timing, the eye contact and BG makes this for me, congrats..

[Jan Fourie]

great inflight shot,with nice posture and superb sharpness,eye contact and comp
VWD
jan

[Norm Dulak]

Thank you Norm for taking the time and re-posting the image. I really appreciate that!
I feel that this is the best way for us all to learn from each other and improve. We won't always agree about things but this is great as we can have a discussion which is always helpful to all of us.
As to your re-post, I don't feel it is an improvement of the original and even feel the composition in it is not balanced.
Few issues are: the head of the bird is almost in the centre which is usually something that should be avoided.
There isn't enough room at the bottom and to the left.
Here is a horizontal crop which I feel is more pleasing - please let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Ofer

Ofer:

Fair enough. Your re-post looks fine, and your reasoning makes sense.

Norm

[Danny Laredo]

Ofer, suerb capture, I really love the pose and eye contact here.

[Rob Drummond]

G'day Ofer, great shot - fantastic bacground, fanned tail and that head turn is perfect. I prefer your later crop.

cheers
Rob