Love the fresh grass - Egyptian Goose

[RakeshDhareshwar]

A very common and beautiful duck of East Africa . Saw it almost everywhere I went in Kenya . Was lucky to get really close , as he was busy munching the grass .

Camera : 1D MK III
Lens : 600mm f4 IS
Aperture : f 7.1
Shutters : 1/400
Speed : ISO 640

Cheers,
Rakesh

[Arthur Morris]

All perfect but needed to be more left in the frame; it is almost dead center.... I make the same mistake often....

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Thanx for the suggestion Artie , here is a RP with the bird on the left . BUt I had some doubts on the Rules of thirds which I will discuss on the next comment pane .

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Here is the original crop with the 3X3 grid . For me , the point of focus and interest was the bird's eye/head which falls exactly as per the rule of third's . But it does leave the bird a bit too centered . The suggested crop does look good , but leaves the bird looking too big in the frame for my taste . Any suggestions / pointers on this would be welcome .

[Arthur Morris]

For me, Pane 3 is the winner by far. As the birds get bigger in the frame, the rule of 1/3rds goes out the window.... Nobody cares what going on behind the bird.... Love the grasss blade in its mouth and the perfect HA.

[Mital Patel]

this is a stellar image rakesh. i might give my honest opinion to keep the bird little more left from Pane 3. yes it looks more appealing for visual appearance indeed but still i felt the entire body following on frame going to give weight on right i might give a bit of more space.

from this image you can sure cut a bit more say 5% to make it more wider look and it'll still look great to view at.

here is mine.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Lovely pose, light and sharpness Rakesh. To my eyes, Mital's repost is perfect.
He also addressed the dust spot and the dark blob above the back that I was going to suggest.
Very nice image!

[Paul Lagasi]

What can I say another vote for #3, lovely colors sharp and backwards look a killer...

[Emily Norman]

Wow, this bird is so unusual! I think that finding the perfect crop is so difficult, and of the three choices I find the last one most appealing. Beautiful capture!

[Arthur Morris]

The next time that I consider the rule of thirds with a large in the frame subject will be the first :S3:

[Mital Patel]

i may go wrong artie for sure based on rule of 3rd yes absolutely yes. i didnt mean to overruled view of Gurus like you :) i bet not :)

[Arthur Morris]

No problema. I am just a Jewish kid from Brooklyn doing what I love. Something between Pane 3 and Pane 6 might be perfect but I like Pane 3 a lot :S3:. In the end, it is Rakesh's call. I just wanted to try to keep folks from blindly following the rules (especially when they do not apply!) I am pretty sure that in all of my books I write something like this: For small in the frame subjects the Rule of Thirds is a great place to start. This is not a small in the frame subject.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Lovely IQ and great colors. Love the green BG. Pane 6 comp is probably best but OP wasn't bad either

[Craig Brelsford]

I lean toward Pane 6.

[Sid Garige]

Pane 3 for me Rakersh.
Excellent pose and Deatils.