Please trash this image...

[Arthur Morris]

I made this image on the first morning of the 2015 San Diego IPT with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens and the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III with the rugged Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/160 sec. at f/18 in Manual mode was less than ideal.

Center AF point (by necessity)/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Heermann's Gull with Red Tuna Crab.

Please trash this image as requested. There are lots of problems so have fun.

a

ps: see the tight crop in the next pane.

[Arthur Morris]

This is a tight crop of the image above.

[Ross Taylor]

Hi Artie. Trashing for fun? Ok, I'll bite ;)

A higher POV would raise that horizon away from the head. A looser crop could give the tail a little more clearance to the edge of frame, without making the bird appear too central. The body and head seem turned away slightly. The scratches and crab guts in the foreground draw the eye, and perhaps could be considered to be cloned out. There is a specular highlight or dust spot above the tail.

TFS-Ross

[Ross Taylor]

.... and furthermore, lol, the tight crop portrait seems to emphasize the action much better than the OP.
TFS-Ross

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Artie, here goes... I wish I could see the feet, they are hidden by the perch. The head turned slightly more to the viewer would be ideal. The water/horizon line along the top of the head is less than ideal. There is a second smaller highlight in the eye that I would remove, leaving only the brighter larger one. A few dust spots or specular highlights I would remove. I may be back with more as I study the image. Thank you for sharing.

[Grace Scalzo]

First off, I just love the colors in this one, blues, grays, reds. Rich and saturated. Points regarding your original presentation have been noted, no need repeating. I think that the real image here lies in the repost, (the tight crop) and I suspect that you do too. :) So here are my thoughs on that one.

1- The story to me here is the crab. Interesting, unusual, colorful, about to meet his demise. So I'd put him in a more prominent part of the frame. Using the Rule of thirds, this is what I was thinking.

However - see my number 3. In my crop, I don't like that there is blue beneath the gull's body. I would like for the gull's body to be in the corner of the frame, but I'm not seeing how to accomplish this without messing up my #1.

4- The light blue doesn't hugely bother me but it does a bit. Easy to make it all the same as the rest of the background.

2- I'd nix that highlight.

Takes alot of nerve to critique one of your images, but you did ask. :) Hope that I haven't overstepped.

[Ross Taylor]

Fresh eyes helped me see some sharpening halos on the bird's tail, legs, bill, and crab's claws. These do not seem to be present in the tight crop.
That's about all the trashing I can do ;)
TFS-Ross

[arash_hazeghi]

that tuna crab looks yummy, I wish the head was parallel to the back of the camera, then I would crop it tight to focus on the head and the prey.

[Arthur Morris]

that tuna crab looks yummy, I wish the head was parallel to the back of the camera, then I would crop it tight to focus on the head and the prey.

Looks as if you missed Pane 2 :) a

[Karl Egressy]

Even with the head turn not being ideal the tight crop showing the head and crab only, puts all the emphasis on the action.
The cool thing is having eye contact with the crab as well.

[Eric Dienesch]

Why trash it.. not at all..
ok the dirty stone really doesnt looks nice, its an average picture but in nice light.
i would believe there will be many beginners, who would be glad for achieving such a result. Ok not for YOU ;)
for that... no trash

[Arthur Morris]

Even with the head turn not being ideal the tight crop showing the head and crab only, puts all the emphasis on the action.
The cool thing is having eye contact with the crab as well.

Yup, the crab had a good head angle with eye contact.
a

[Arthur Morris]

Fresh eyes helped me see some sharpening halos on the bird's tail, legs, bill, and crab's claws. These do not seem to be present in the tight crop.
That's about all the trashing I can do ;) TFS-Ross

Hi Ross, Your comments in Panes 3 and 4 were spot on. I am not, however, seeing and sharpening haloes on the tail, legs, or bill even when I tilt the screen back :) IAC, thanks a stack. a

[Arthur Morris]

First off, I just love the colors in this one, blues, grays, reds. Rich and saturated. Points regarding your original presentation have been noted, no need repeating. I think that the real image here lies in the repost, (the tight crop) and I suspect that you do too. :) So here are my thoughs on that one.

1- The story to me here is the crab. Interesting, unusual, colorful, about to meet his demise. So I'd put him in a more prominent part of the frame. Using the Rule of thirds, this is what I was thinking.

However - see my number 3. In my crop, I don't like that there is blue beneath the gull's body. I would like for the gull's body to be in the corner of the frame, but I'm not seeing how to accomplish this without messing up my #1.

4- The light blue doesn't hugely bother me but it does a bit. Easy to make it all the same as the rest of the background.

2- I'd nix that highlight.

Takes a lot of nerve to critique one of your images, but you did ask. :) Hope that I haven't overstepped.

No over-stepping at all. I asked for it :) As for anything like your crop, I disagree, but only 100%. The tight crop held up quite nicely and as others do above I feel that it tells the story most dramatically. a

[Grace Scalzo]

Hi Artie, I'm not objecting to a tight crop at all, nor to the IQ and I said in my first point that the story is about the crab. I just like the crab higher in the frame and a less square image. I did point out the problem with my approach. My comments have to do with where he lives in the frame. Comp is personal, it's a cool shot, in any case. Thanks.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie, I'm not objecting to a tight crop at all, nor to the IQ and I said in my first point that the story is about the crab. I just like the crab higher in the frame and a less square image. I did point out the problem with my approach. My comments have to do with where he lives in the frame. Comp is personal, it's a cool shot, in any case. Thanks.

No problem. As I said above, I simply disagree with anything similar to your proposed crop. And as a matter of fact, it seems that you do too :) a

ps: yes, compositional choices are personal, but for me, they need to make some sense. Honoring the "rule of thirds" or any other "rule" for the sake of honoring it does not make sense to me when it doesn't work and it does not improve the image.

[Ross Taylor]

Hi Artie, Thanks so much for your feedback :)

With regards to the halos I am seeing, is it possible what I assume are "sharpening halos" are some other artifact? Could the monitor resolution/quality affect visibility? I have made a very tight crop from the OP screen image. It shows what I see in the OP around the crab claws for example.

Comments most welcome, Ross

[Ross Taylor]

Further to halos, I do not see them on my iPad, only on my 24" Dell IPS monitor.

This leads to the question, In your opinion, would large high-res monitors reveal more imperfections than print or than necessary?

Ross

[Marina Scarr]

The first image isn't working for me, but the cropped image takes care of most of the issues I am seeing. In a perfect world it would have been nice to have the bird with a bit better HA but this image is really about the crab. I do think you could go a little loser than your cropped version.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie, Thanks so much for your feedback :)

With regards to the halos I am seeing, is it possible what I assume are "sharpening halos" are some other artifact? Could the monitor resolution/quality affect visibility? I have made a very tight crop from the OP screen image. It shows what I see in the OP around the crab claws for example.

Comments most welcome, Ross

Hi Ross, To answer all of your questions honestly, I do not know. I am posting a huge crop from the unsharpened TIFF here and see no evidence of any halo so it is possible that the one you see in your crop here is a sharpening halo. But, #1: why do you not see it on all monitors? and #2: even when I tilt the screen on the cropped image in Pane #2 I see no halos at all...

[Arthur Morris]

And here is a huge crop from the probably sharpened image in Pane #2. I am seeing a faint halo but nothing as dramatic as in the crop that you posted. So the answer remains, I have no clue.

[Ross Taylor]

Hi Artie, The crop I posted with halo pointed out is from pane number 1, the OP. Actually pane 2 looks great as far as I can tell, and as we see in your crop in pane 21, the halo is negligible.

I suspect that the display on my iPad may blend pixels together a bit and that is why I don't see the halo from pane 1 on it.

It sure is an interesting issue we have stumbled across here, I suspect it is more an issue of monitor resolution and sharpness than any problem with your shot ;)

Tnx, Ross

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Ross. I sharpen most of my 1200 wide JPEGs with Unsharp Mask at 110/.3/0 and my 5DS R 1200 wide JPEGs at 130-150/.3/0 and have never had a single halo complaint :) a