Vertical Take off

[Stu Bowie]

Let me explain my reasoning for this comp. This Longtailed Widow bird was draped the full length of the 'perch', thus the vertical frame. I only managed two shots before he decided to take off. On instinct, I pressed the shutter, as I wasnt expecting him to take off so soon. Now I have this take off pose, nothing cut off, and want to show off the colours of the BG. If I come up from the bottom, I feel the comp will be too squarish, and as this was captured vertically, I dont want to change the overall feel of the image. The BG is OOF grasses shot as is. Taken in a nature reserve close to my house very early yesterday morning. Also shot through my car out the passenger window. I wish it was a little sharper too. And yes, he has taken off slightly away from me.

1D Mark IV
100-400 @ 400mm
1/1600
F/7.1
ISO 500

Manual exposure
Hand held from my car

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot Stuart
I love the background, very nice light, great pose, and I really like the comp.
If mine I would just remove the dark spots below the bird.
Very well done.

[Satish Ranadive]

Stuart Sir:
Beautiful looking bird with lovely tail.I like the details in blacks,pose, beautiful composition and background.

Regards,
Satish.

[MohsenVahedipour]

Stuart,

Excellent capture, Lovely bird & BG. This composition working for me, but I would prefer Horizontal comp. instead with adding some canvas to the left. TFS

[Grace Scalzo]

I see your challenges, Stuart. I personally would come up from the bottom. Even if you end up with something "square-ish", I think that the strong line of the bird negates that. As presented, it feels top-heavy to me. Of course, this is just my opinion. I love the flow of the tail - gives the image alot of motion.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Super shot Stu, the head looks sharp to me, you have excellent detail. Regards composition I see your dilemma, I would add canvas to the left using content aware scale. The OOF stem and faint dark blobs add a little authenticity for me, I think if you removed them it would look a little manicured.

[Marina Scarr]

Terrific exposure and lovely BG and light. I see exactly what you were going for. I might consider adding some canvas left .

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all for the feedback. Whilst there would be many ways of achieving the right comp from what I have, here is a quick version taking off the bottom, and adding to the left. Yes it may look better, but I feel I lose my original vertical capture.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Stu - leave the bottom add to the left - trust me I am a scientist!!

[Stu Bowie]

Stu - trust me I am a scientist!!

I knew that already.

[Stu Bowie]

I think we are on the right track - Like this????

[gareth thomson]

Stuart: Your repost in frame 11 looks good to me. I think the weight of the bird (its color and intrinsic interest) is well balanced by the mass of gold-yellow below. Certainly a unique comp, but I sure like it as is -- then again I'm no scientist :-)

[Rachel Hollander]

Stuart - your last rp looks great. Nice to see a relatively close shot of a widow bird. I don't remember how you feel about cloning but you might consider cloning the dark spots below the bird out.

TFS,
Rachel

[Nico Steenberg]

Exposed to perfection Stu !! Great sharpness and detail captured against a killer bg. I really like the landscape crop. Rietvlei ?

[Jack Breakfast]

What a magnificent picture! I see no earthly reason to fear and loathe the square crop, and although I like all 3 versions, my favorite is the version in panel #11. What a weird and wonderful picture! All of your disclaimers were needless, I feel. Very very well done.

[Karl Egressy]

Great shot, capturing the moment, Stuart. It seems to me that the last composition is the best so far, but there might be many possibilities.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Stu - pane 11 that's the one for me!!

[dankearl]

It took me a second to tell what I was looking at Stuart!
A really fun and unique image.
I do like the tall vertical because it is unusual.
Terrific BG and IQ as usual.
I also would think about removing the dark spots below the bird.