Feels a little tight for my taste and the cluttered background detracts from what should be an intimate composition. I would experiment with the greens in the background and tone them right down so they are not so distracting. Regards, Ian.
I honestly don't see an issue with the greens, after all they are complimenting the beautiful pinks and reds in my view.
The thing that does not make this work is the half closed eye.
Not sure how big you had cropped, but perhaps there is an alternative way of cropping. One never knows without seeing the full image.
The exposure looks pretty good and you have some nice details.
Yes, it is purposely tight to focus on the bill and its detail, in view of the Theme. Yes, I would have liked a fully open eye, but he was focused on his task. Here's the full-height image, cropped from horizontal. Actually I added a sliver from another frame because I clipped his nails. I had just captured an image in which he was bending down working on the lower feathers, which composed nicely in landscape; if I had had my wits about me I would have switched to portrait in the few seconds after he changed position. The rookery was so full of action that I was a kid in a candy store, clicking images right and left, but other egrets and spoonies often intruded on the composition, thus the need for tight cropping.
Marvellous portrait, Bill Sir. Absolutely superb textures and feeling of lovely colours( my most favourite colour and it's shades) with excellent fine details.
A winner of this month...superb composition.
Love it.
Regards,
Satish.
Hi Bill, well exposed on the pinks, and the feather detail shows up nicely. I do like the preening pose, and in most cases, birds tend to close their eyes completely, so Im ok with the eyes here, as they arent closed. Yes to being too tight on the RHS.
In my view a little space above is needed above head and proportion to the right. The greens are fine but brightening the shadow bits would make the background easier on the eye. The bird's eye is a bit closed and straining to see what it is doing. I am not sure the bird could be expected to see any other way and as Stu points out most eyes are closed during this behaviour. All else is fine in my view, with good colour, detail and behaviour nicely captured. I'm Ok with the fuller frame version and a tight version....nice work Bill.
Last edited by adrian dancy; 08-19-2015 at 01:21 AM.
Reason: amend opinion slightly
Lovely capture and both versions would work for me. I do find the close crop to be more powerful though. I find the eye to be a plus for the behavior exhibited.
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