Chilean Flamingo

[Leroy Laverman]

Flamingo at the Santa Barbara Zoo. The background was originally mud and not too attractive so I altered it. What to you think of this alteration and the composition?

Nikon D80 Nikon 80-200 1:2.8 AF-D
ISO 400 f/13 1/250 sec
Center weighted metering

[Lana Hays]

Leroy
I know that some don't like dark BGs but I do so this is just fine and dandy for me. I really like the simplicity and lines of the flamingo. What I would change would be the composition. I think there's too much "dead space" on the right. A square crop such as below might be one option.

[Alfred Forns]

Square crop works very well Great suggestion Do like the black bg and beautiful feather detail

For these I like going even tighter Did one alternate crop Not sure if you like it

[Leroy Laverman]

Thanks for the crop suggestions, both of these would come out nice with the full size image.

As an aside - I tend to try and restrict my cropping to 'standard' sizes 11x14, 16x20 etc.. I was wondering if you limit yourself in this regard at all. Especially curious to hear from those making a living at photography. For me it's just a hobby but I'm always looking to improve and maybe I'm limiting myself unnecessarily.

[Alfred Forns]

I don't crop to a particular size Crop for best possible image Trying to conform to a size is very limiting

The only drawback is in framing You need custom frames which will be more expensive unless you make your own (easy) For hanging on a wall I do not frame anything Have all flush mounted in foam board They look great and it is not expensive Don't worry much about damage to print Can always print again I think for something that works out to under 13X19 is around $20 per !!!

For selling purposes the only concern is quality and having enough pixels Always leaving room for editors to do some cropping of their own

[Jim Poor]

<<<--- Fan of dark BGs :D

I like it and I think either of the two crops suggested would work to get the eye in a good spot and emphasize it as the subject.

[James Salywoda]

A beautiful shot Leroy I do agree about the crop suggestions it
gives an intiment feel to this image and removes the empty space
as mentioned.

[Fabs Forns]

Great base image, Leroy. Basically you can do a few crops on it. The black bg really makes the pink stand out. Fine image :)