What is Wrong With this Image?

[Arthur Morris]

I created this Laysan Albatross image this morning on Midway Island. You can see more of my Midway images in Avian and on my Blog at www.birdsasart-Blog.com.

In the meantime, one of the problems with this image is minor, the other means that it goes on the discard pile. Can you identify the two flaws, one minor and one major?

[Paul Randall]

Hi Arthur, the problems I see with this image are that the whites look blown on the neck and chest (I'm guessing thats the major problem) and the other problem is the comp. I think. Not much room in front of the birds bill and would look better if the frame ended half way down the birds breast. Also looks like the top of the back is OOF. Am I close? I'm sure not many images go on your discard pile nowadays and at least you don't have to dispose of bin loads of film anymore:)

Paul Randall

[Lance Peters]

will be interesting to see what everyone thinks. Hoping all the ETL crew jump in here and say what they think.
Great learning opportunity here!!!!!

[Colin Knight]

The whites certainly look blown to me. Composition is so subjective, I couldn't call it a flaw unless it's something obvious.

Like Lance said, I'll be checking other responses here.

BTW, great blog with some great 7D info, Art. Thanks again.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Arthur, the problems I see with this image are that the whites look blown on the neck and chest (I'm guessing thats the major problem) and the other problem is the comp. I think. Not much room in front of the birds bill and would look better if the frame ended half way down the birds breast. Also looks like the top of the back is OOF. Am I close? I'm sure not many images go on your discard pile nowadays and at least you don't have to dispose of bin loads of film anymore. Paul Randall

Hi Paul, Thanks for playing; no better way to learn. The whites are not even close to being blown. (This JPEG was created from an extracted JPEG.) There were no flashing highlight in the image :) Of your compositional comments you hit the nail on the head with the "not much room in front." That is the minor one. :) The lack of sharp focus on the back is of no concern to me as the eye is razor and that is where people look.

At least you got one!

[Kristin Brown]

I think the head angle is wrong...:confused:

[Arthur Morris]

Yes, Kristen. This is a reject because the bird's head is angled slightly away rather than slightly towards me.

[Paul Randall]

I kinda liked the head angle. Seems very thoughtful.
I think that the softness/smoothness of the neck made me assume that it was blown as I guess there is little detail or markings to see there anyway.:o
Thanks for the game Arthur.:D

[Desmond Chan]

Yes, Kristen. This is a reject because the bird's head is angled slightly away rather than slightly towards me.

Oh Artie, you should have let Kristen elaborate on what wrong was the head angle. :)

[Deborah Hanson]

I am curious why the head angle is incorrect.
It looks like a nice portrait image and if a crop took off the bottom a bit and the canvas was extended on the left side, I am not sure why this photo needs to be rejected.
Is it just the photographers that need the head angle to be one way or another - or is it the buyer that looks for a specific head angle.?
Coloring and mood of the photo is soft and serene. The eye is beautifully done - the blacks are distinct and the detail around the eye is visible. There is a gradation of colors . The textures of the bill and bird itself are great.
For the most part (unfortuately) I am a rule player - but the artistic side of photography is alluding me and things like crop and head angle is part of that.

Thanks
Deb

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Check out the Tutorial and How-To Repository Forum for more on Head Angle Police (HAP) Tutorial.

[Deborah Hanson]

Jeff -
I realize that there must be a rule somewhere that indicates that the head angle should be a certain way but I guess I am wondering why it should be that way if I am drawn to an image for the other aspects of that photo.
To me, rule following can lead to lack of creativity and experimentation in some instances. As I said before, I am a rule player (by profession I had to be) but there are times when I don't think that following certain criteria leads to the best artwork.

Deb

[Lance Peters]

Jeff -
I realize that there must be a rule somewhere that indicates that the head angle should be a certain way but I guess I am wondering why it should be that way if I am drawn to an image for the other aspects of that photo.
To me, rule following can lead to lack of creativity and experimentation in some instances. As I said before, I am a rule player (by profession I had to be) but there are times when I don't think that following certain criteria leads to the best artwork.

Deb

Hi Deborah - I am sure Artie will correct me if I am wrong :)

One of the things a correct HA does is put the eye and the bill on the same plane, thus you have both a sharp eye and sharp beak.
IMHO - Birds are much like portraits of people (Know a lot about these :) ) the eye contact is a integral part of the image (most of the time), provides the viewer with a connection to the subject. The eye's are the gateway to the soul.

ALL rules are made to be broken of course of but understanding the rule first is necessary to know when to break it.
The HA in Artie's image is not off by all that much and there are many other redeeming qualities of the image - however Artie knows the HA is not correct and that is one of the parameters he judges his images by.

Whilst I can certainly see your point in what you are saying - Artie is far more successful, talented and creative than I (By a factor of about 1 billion) :) so I am more than happy to accept his guidance in what has been instrumental in getting him to were he is now.
:0

[Desmond Chan]

I realize that there must be a rule somewhere that indicates that the head angle should be a certain way

Personally, I do not think there is such a rule. And I think not all the human portraits look the same either (I guess you could also argue what a portrait is or is not).

To me, rule following can lead to lack of creativity and experimentation in some instances...[snip] I don't think that following certain criteria leads to the best artwork.


I tend to agree, Deborah. I think, in general, what you want to show and communicate to your viewers with your photographs should dictate how you take the them.

For the presented photograph, if the angle is off, it looks to me to be very, very slight that only a pair of well-trained, experienced eyes can detect. If so, that also seems to me that 90% of the people in the world would not be able to detect it. Unfortunately, that includes me :o Therefore, I think it would be great if Kristin could tell us the mortals what she saw in that photograph that made her come to the conclusion that the head angle was off.

Like Lance, I trust Artie did find that the head angle was off and this photograph of his had not met his standards and so should be discarded as he had decided.

[Fabs Forns]

Maestro, with all due respect, the whites are not blown, but depth of field renders them solid, so very easy for folks to misinterpret that. Nice bird :)

[Daniel Cadieux]

For the presented photograph, if the angle is off, it looks to me to be very, very slight that only a pair of well-trained, experienced eyes can detect. If so, that also seems to me that 90% of the people in the world would not be able to detect it. Unfortunately, that includes me :o Therefore, I think it would be great if Kristin could tell us the mortals what she saw in that photograph that made her come to the conclusion that the head angle was off.


Desmond, it comes with experience. My first thought was also that the HA was off a bit. It does lok like it is looking away. With Artie's experience, and with this very cooperative subject I am 99.999% certain that he does have some images of this very individual with a "correct" HA - that is with the bill pointing just a few degrees more towards us. Seeing those side-by-side you'd see how much more pleasing the "correct" one would be. In the afformentioned "HAP" thread, found HERE (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7781), take a look at panes 11 and 12 for perfect such examples of this. Very informative thread and recommended reading:). Yuo will see that the difference in angle may be subtle, but the difference in viewer impact is big.

Now, if this bird was of a rare, nervous, and once-in-a-lifetime chance encounter and you had been able to pull off just a single image before it took off then yes the image would be very acceptable indeed. But if you have the chance to work your subject and that you are able to obtain a perfect HA, then that one will always be more pleasing.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Artie HA is really close and tip of beak looks sharp !! Imagine with those guys you can go back and take all the images you want !!! .. you got a ton of birds !!! Looking forward to more !!!

[Desmond Chan]

With Artie's experience, and with this very cooperative subject I am 99.999% certain that he does have some images of this very individual with a "correct" HA - that is with the bill pointing just a few degrees more towards us. Seeing those side-by-side you'd see how much more pleasing the "correct" one would be.

I don't doubt that if you have two of those images side-by-side, it'd be easier to tell the difference. Otherwise, one could look as good as the other one to the mortals :)

To me, this one looks ambiguous. One part of the bird says one thing, the other part seems to say something else.

[Fabs Forns]

Looking at the bill's perspective, it is angled towards us. The black in front of the eye is giving the optical illusion of the head angled away.

[Desmond Chan]

Looking at the bill's perspective, it is angled towards us. The black in front of the eye is giving the optical illusion of the head angled away.

Exactly what I see !

[Bob Miller]

Artie may not feel like its worth keeping..and it's his image....but i just want to say that from the moment I saw it i liked it alot. I agree it needs more space in front of the bird but the HA to me looks fine!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Looking at the bill's perspective, it is angled towards us. The black in front of the eye is giving the optical illusion of the head angled away.

True, but for me when it comes to images an optical illusion is just as bad as the real thing:). I guess it doesn't help either that the body is obviously turned towards us alot more than the HA is. If one has the opportunity to take other images that do not have that illusion then that is best.

Same goes for horizons...sometimes its just an illusion of a slight tilt, but it still appears to be there no matter what and still is bothersome.

[Doug Brown]

The first thing I noticed when I looked at the image was that the head was angled slightly away or at least appeared that way.