Anhinga

[Sunil Gopalan]

First Post --- gulp. Hope I don't mess something up.

Shot w/Canon 7D and 300/2.8 @ f/4 1/1600s ISO-200 - anything else relevant? Appreciate thoughts on composition/negative space/anything else..

[Jeannean Ryman]

It's a really nice photo and I like the pose. As to the negative space, for me, there is too much empty space on top. However if it would have stretched up, it would be close to the top of the frame. I struggle with shooting vertical shots. I tend to get either too much, or too little. At times like that, I wish for a zoom instead of a fixed prime. Welcome to the forum Sunil. Hope to see more of your work!

[Sunil Gopalan]

Thanks for the input Jeannean

[Marina Scarr]

This is a unique and interesting photo. I love the behavior you have captured here, and your image is tack sharp with super colors and details. The negative space doesn't really bother me b/c the behavior is so powerful that the negative space doesn't really distractt as much as I thought it would. However, would you please explain to me why you did choose this composition?

[Sunil Gopalan]

This seemed like a common bird around FL and didn't generate a whole lot of interest in a standard portrait. So I decided to take advantage of how tame it seemed and spent some time with it at point blank range (very unusual coming from the midwest). As it was preening , it stretched up and nicely filled the vertical frame, so when given the opportunity to take a photo as it reached down to scratch I figured leaving a vertical orientation with lots of neg. space seemed the way to go to give the viewer an idea of how much it had bent over. It reminded me of a hunched over old person I had once seen.

I cropped out whatever was visible of the lower part in post to leave some of the dimensions of the bird to the imagination.

One of the few of my pictures I have framed under a mat - seems to really work for me. :)

[Marina Scarr]

Thank you for sharing, Sunil. While I find it unique, I like it too, but what's most important is that YOU like it!!

[Joshua Meehl]

I really like this composition, Sunil.

The hunched body and the talon under the head really remind me of Rodin's The Thinker. It's like he is pondering deep bird thoughts.