Getting out of my Comfort Zone

[Fabs Forns]

Sometimes we feel comfortable doing certain compositions and angles and tend to stick with them and that interferes with growth in my opinion, so taking a risk may or may not work out, but it's an exercise in thinking differently, if nothing else.
Stilt was quite far and in the weeds, and I got thinking, why not try to make an image out of the situation, went in the ground and placed the pickerel in the foreground and took the risk. Not sure if you guys like it, it's a deviation of the comfortable compo. Border darkened to keep eye inside the picture.

D300, 300/2.8 VR plus 1.7X
f/5.6, 1/2500, ISO 800
hand held

[Harold Davis]

it works perfectly for me. i like the way the pickerel offsets the bird or balances the image. looks great. very artful!! nice job!!

[Juan Aragonés]

It works for me Fabs.

[Ian McHenry]

Lovely image Fabs.I'm just coming off a dose of photo fatigue and this enhances inspiration to get behind the lens again !!!
My deepest sympathy for your recent loss.
Best Wishes: Ian Mc

[Steve Canuel]

Hi Fabs,
I find the front purple a little large. It works better for me with just the back one in the image as it seems the bird is staring at that one. I like the blurred, darkened surroundings with the stilt in the lit, sharper area.
Steve

[Paul Ricciardi]

Lovely Fabs, while I like tight headshots sometimes I feel that a more "environmental" shot is more effective. The composition is different yet strong and reminds me of some of Michio Hoshino's compositions where the wildlife was a part of the environment around it. Good work, nice break from the "traditional" wildlife shot.

[Brian Wong]

Hi Fabs!

It works for me, and I can sense a nice diagonal. I can also see Steve's point. I am wondering if you tried flipping it around horizontally ... it seems to hold my eye better on the bird, as my eye goes from left to right and then left again.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Hi Fabs! Before anything! Thank you and Al far everything today!! I Had a great time!!!
This shot works preety well to me, I think the Border darkened adds a lot to it, good call! Congratulations!

[Raymond Barlow]

This is cool Fabs...

[Kaushik Balakumar]

I liked the image a lot. It works for me totally. The OOF purple flowers creates a balance with the bird.

Sometimes we feel comfortable doing certain compositions and angles and tend to stick with them and that interferes with growth in my opinion, so taking a risk may or may not work out, but it's an exercise in thinking differently, if nothing else.

Agree with u totally. Most of the times we get to see images & comments which look for ideal 'Bird on Stick' compositions with a 'perfect head turn', 'frame filling subject', 'evenly lit subject', etc etc.,
This becomes a sort of protocol. It becomes more of a documentary image. I do not mean to say that these are unimportant but all that I'm saying is that we need to think beyond them. Get more creative & look to make more artistic images.

Thanks for sharing this image. :)

[David Steele]

I do like it Fabs but wonder if a panoramic treatment wouldn't have been even better? (To do this you may have needed to adjust the pickerel or your shooting angle.)