Oystercatchers

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L

1/1000sec f/7.1 Av +.33 ISO 400 HH

Crop for composition, S/H, sharpening in CS5

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Ian, cute capture of these two hanging out. I like the diagonal composition but I feel that the birds are competing with each other for attention in this image. With multiple subjects, it is best to have some space between them (unless you are documenting mating behavior) and in this case it would be nice to have them both doing the same thing. I can see the theme of one bird looking out while the other snoozes, but if the top bird were further to the right where we could see it's legs I think it would be a stronger image.

[Troy Lim]

Ian, it is not easy when shooting from that angle and trying to include both birds to make the composition work. TFS.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Ian,

Love the species. I agree with Kerry - find my eyes fighting to determine which one to view. Also, bird on the right has beak angling towards the right and tight on the edge - my eye tend to follow the beak, then exit the frame.
But, I do like the different approach you took just not as strong as possible (IMO) per Kerry's comments - thanks for sharing.

This is a composition issue and they can be subjective - as you know.

[Ian Cassell]

Thank you all. I have several images with a single bird. I'll PP one of them and see how that compares.