Crested Caracara issuing his mating call

[Karen Pleasant]

In early April we went to Texas for some birding. We were in a blind, so I was not able to move around to control the background. I was really happy to get this shot of a crested caracara issuing his mating call. BUT, I think it is a hard image to appreciate without twisting your head! LOL! I think this is a situation where hubby's video provides a much better viewer experience, since he captured the movement and the sound.

D800 with 500/f4 lens @ 500mm
1/2000 at f6.3, ISO 1250

Slight crop off top and right side. Light contrast and sharpening applied only to the bird in CS6. Background was quite yellowish/bright green, so I toned it down a bit.

I look forward to hearing you thoughts about how to improve this image.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the calling pose, perch, branches coming up from the bottom and sharpness. I find with this composition that the image seems off balanced. Here are two quick alternatives. The square one has the bird a little too centered and tight at the top for my taste but it is an alternative.

[Karen Pleasant]

Thanks! I DO like the vertical crop suggestion to eliminate excess space! Perhaps your second crop with a little more top?

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Karen,

Nice image of a Crested Caracara, looks just like the ones here in Florida. Interesting pose, perfect perch. I see two changes I would make if mine. I would try to open and get more detail from the black crest, it looks like the black might be blocked. I also would go with a 4x5 crop eliminating about half of the right hand side, about to where the P is in your watermark. Thank you for sharing.

[Jim Crosswell]

Thanks! I DO like the vertical crop suggestion to eliminate excess space! Perhaps you second crop with a little more top?

Composition is very subjective and I like the vertical myself. Here is the second crop with a little more space up top.

[Karen Pleasant]

Great comments!

Indeed, I did have detail in the black at the back of his head, so I tweaked that. I also noticed that I had some pink fringing going on around the foliage in the background....zapped that. And I tried a 4x5 crop.

Here's the revised image.....

[William Dickson]

Beautiful frame Karen, lovely details on the bird, fantastic pose. I like the first post best Great work and thanks for sharing

Will

[Jonathan Ashton]

Yes I like the first though possibly just take a sliver off the RHS, lovely shot I like your processing.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

I´m not too keen about square crops so I will pass on that :) but I like the suggestion on the portrait mode, well actually, I prefer the original post as the image is not just about the bird but also its beautiful habitat. Great that you captured the moment of his ritual!

[Don Hamilton Jr.]

My vote is for the Port Mode crop,congrats on great timing and sharp capture.

[keith mitchell]

Karen the original post was fine by me, very nice piece of work.

Keith.

[gail bisson]

This thread really highlights how subjective composition is. Sometimes, the rule of thirds get thrown out the window!
In your repost, the bird is too big in the frame and although you brought up the blacks in the crest , you have introduced noise into that area. I would back off by about 50%.
There is also a significant sharpening halo in the repost.
Personally, I like the OP with a crop from the right hand side to the number 5 in 2015 and Jim's crop.
Gail

[Karen Pleasant]

Ditto! Compositions are very subjective....but it is also nice to see how an image like this can be cropped in so many different ways! :)

No additional sharpening was done for the posting in #6. Only light sharpening done on the OP. I suspect the apparent halo is from masking the bird from the background when I adjusted slightly the tone of the background.

Thanks so much for the discussions with explanations of what about the image works, and what about the image could be changed to strengthen the image!

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely capture of this awesome behavior. My vote is for the OP. Love the perch and environment.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Another very pleasant image to view Karen
I am enjoying your posts, very much! Not only you provide us with images of species some of us have never encountered before, I also find your enthusiasm and willingness to learn more quite contagious

I too prefer the OP here, given the amount of space the subject needs. Nice vibrant colours and if I were to nit-pick I would say the image is a tad too contrasty in places and more detail can be extracted from the blacks. Wonderful calling pose, BG is great, love the vegetation and IMO it does not distract from the bird. Sharp and good detail - nice work Karen, will look out for your images in the future, thank you so much for sharing:)

Kind regards,

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

OP for me. However, based on the pose of the bird there, even without the head being thrown back, I would've been shooting verticals anyway.
In that instance you'd have gotten a great portrait format comp especially if you'd left room below for the nice foliage to lead the viewer up to the bird.
I don't think you'd have compromised any habitat showing in that way at all.
Excellent behaviour captured Karen.
TFS

[Don Lacy]

I prefer the OP with just a bit off of the right the repost IQ is noticeably poorer.

[Karen Pleasant]

I prefer the OP with just a bit off of the right the repost IQ is noticeably poorer.

Not sure I understand. The only difference between the OP and my repost was trying to recover detail in the black area at the back of the head (which I have dialed backed about 50% since the repost), removing a very slight pink tint in part of the sky, and cropping. If you mean the black area, I totally agree and have reduce the amount of recovery by 50%.

[Don Lacy]

Yes the black area

[Karen Pleasant]

I agree totally! Thanks for commenting!

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image. Great calling pose. Would go with vertical composition with more space at the top.

Regards,
Satish.

[David Salem]

Pane 6 looks good to me but then again I like a bit tighter comp when the subject is nice and sharp, which this one is! Great looking perch and plant and I like the mottled BG color. Clean up the halo and maybe a bit of NR to the BG and you should be ready to head to the printers :) Well done

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Karen, what a lovely calling pose, with the head and neck back so far, he seems to be putting in quite an effort. Well exposed on the Caracara, nice and sharp, and I like the overall DOF in the image. Thats a great BG too. I prefer your comp in your OP.