Peregrine-Vertical Crop

[Sanjeevprakash]

Took this @ Nickersons.I had to crop it to vertical as the falcon was positioned towards the extreme left of the frame with lot of empty space towards the right.I straightened the horizon and selectively applied NR to the BG.Does this crop work?

D300s,300mm f2.8,1/640s, f/5.6, ISO-220


Thanks

[Gillie Bengough]

For me, the crop doesn't work; the bird looks rather as if he's been dropped from a tall building. Did you consider adding to the frame on the left?

[Gillie Bengough]

The crop doesn't work, for me. The bird looks as though he's been dropped off a high building. Did you consider adding to the frame o the left?

[Sanjeevprakash]

Thanks Gillie for your Honest Opinion.Not really.Haven't reached that level of PP yet,but guess I will have to eventually .I am also over the fence on this one though and this is the best I could come up with.

[Gillie Bengough]

Sorry about the double post; I thought I had failed to post it, so did it again :/

[Sanjeevprakash]

OK,here's a different Crop.I added the canvas in the front and cropped it horizantly.Had to let go of the Ocean as the bird was coming too up in the frame.This looks better IMO.

Raw Image without any PP except for adding canvas and cropping.

[Bob Miller]

Hi! I like the repost and would suggest that you select the sky and then increase its saturation. This should make the falcon stand out more from the bg. Love the downswept wing position and prominent claws. Hope to see more of your work!

[Gillie Bengough]

Well done on working out the canvas. He is definitely happier now, flying through the frame, instead of plummeting downwards! I agree with Bob about the background, but as it is a RAW image, there is some work to do in PP.

[Sanjeevprakash]

Thanks Bob & Gillie.Here's my final re-post.Thanks for all the feedback.

[Kerry Perkins]

Sanjeev, excellent image and thread and I think your final repost is excellent as far as composition goes. I might increase the saturation of the sky just a bit more to bring out the blue. You have done a very good job with the flight capture. What was your thinking with the low ISO? The resulting shutter speed is way too low for a flight capture in my opinion. The image seems too bright to me also so a faster shutter speed even at ISO 220 would have been of benefit. How did you determine the exposure?

[Sanjeevprakash]

Thanks for your feedback,Kerry.I have been shooting at Manual exposure and my primary concern is to check the exposure meter in camera to be at center +2/3 stop.As for the ISO, it was set on Auto and that day being cloudy the camera decided to use accordingly.I will re-work on the blues for the BG.

[Randall Farhy]

Sanjeev- As already covered, the horizontal approach looks stronger. Gorgeous capture, as Kerry pointed out it looks over-exposed-but far from ruined. I'd add saturation to the bg with vibrance pop to the body of the bird. I'd also add midtone contrast to the entire bird (clarity). Again, great lighting and pose-especially the Head angle and open beak.