Which shot do you like more and why?

[Marlo Casabar]

Good Morning Everyone,

I took these two shots this morning of an Osprey landing on a branch with a fish in its talons. Unfortunately, my camera hadn't locked on focus to the frame just prior to touch down. That would have been the keeper.

In any case, my camera locked on focus starting with these two shots. I personally like the shot where the bird's wing are wide open. My wife, a jewelry artist, prefers the second shot. She says she likes the lines of the wings.

What do you all think?

Canon 7D MkII, 600mm f/4L IS II USM and 1.4xIII f/8 ISO 800 1/1000 Manual

Thanks,
Marlo Casabar

[Colin Driscoll]

Marlo, I would choose the first because the head is more defined against the wing. Overall though the contrast between bird and background is too high. I thought the thumbnail was showing a night flash shot of an owl. A slightly tighter crop could show the bird better too if it's not already heavily cropped.

[Marlo Casabar]

Thanks, Colin. Yes, I agree about the head definition. Thank you! I set the contrast higher to darken the background. It's not heavily cropped, so will try a tighter crop.

Marlo

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the landing, the bird is a bit too small in the frame, the clutter in the LHS doesn't add much, I'd crop it out. hard to tell at this size bit the osprey isn't showing much detail, cropping it tighter might improve it

TFS

[Marlo Casabar]

Great ideas. Thank you so much. I'll do exactly that.

I'm always afraid to crop too much. Concentrate on the bird or on the overall environment kind of thing!

[Colin Driscoll]

Marlow, you will find that this forum is primarily about showing the bird at its best, which is fine by me because you get taught a lot of fine discipline in that area. I do like shots of birds in habitat but the hero of the shot needs to be the bird.