Black-winged Stilt

[Jon Thornton]

Don't ask what the yellow circles are because I have no idea. My best guess is that they are reflections from the window of a passing car. They appeared and disappeared within 30 seconds. Fortunately, this was long enough to incorporate them into the image.

Nikon D300.
Nikon 200-400mm VR @ 400mm.
TC-14E teleconverter.
IS0 800, f/8, 1/80th sec.
Beanbag.
Home made hide.
Lens one inch above the surface of the water.
Cropped left and right only.
Photographed at the sewerage works in Melbourne, Australia.

[Sebastian Erras]

I love the light and the colours.
The soft water is great.
I just think that your crop is a little strange, at least to me.
I would have left the parts on the left and crop a little from the bottom to maintain 3:2 ratio.

Sebastian

[Jon Thornton]

Hi Sebastian, yes it is square. Are you a square-ist or something?

[Sebastian Erras]

Hey John,

I'm not the biggest fan of square format and i think that it would look better if you would cut a little of the reflection off.

[bill kominsky]

I am just a BPN member and not a contributor or moderator but after using a square format camera for 30 years this image looks great as a square, love the detail and do not find the BG to bad, nicely done and thank you for sharing.

Bill

[Jason Franke]

I have to agree, I think the square crop works. I like the symmetry of the "halos" or yellow circles as you put them, over the birds head as well.

[Piotr Shpakowski]

I like the light , colours and the crown of circles.1 vote for horizontal crop.The picture is little noisy for me .I love the warm atmosphere.Congratulatons.

[Jim Craig]

The halos, although interesting, are a bit of a distraction. Otherwise a very nice background. Nice detail and pose on the bird and your choice to shoot from water level was a good one providing a nice perspective. There is symmetry of the halos and there respective reflections in the water, I wonder if cropping from the left to make this a vertical would almost incorporate the halos and reflections into the image better, almost providing a frame for your main subject. Just a thought. Nice image Jon, I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing.

[Jon Thornton]

Thanks for your comments everyone. The consensus seems to be that different crops could be tried.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Very cool light, angle and setting. I would go for a vertical crop and clone out the specular highlights above the head. I would also apply noise reduction on the background.

[Jon Thornton]

Hi Axel, the highlights are staying. They are an important second feature to the image in my opinion.

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely light and pose. I agree that the highlights detract form the bird and compete as the main subject of the image. I think their reflections add to the image though.

[Jon Thornton]

Tony, I think we need to strive for layers of interest in our images. We need to stop thinking of secondary points of interest as competing for the viewer's attention and start thinking of these elements as second good reasons to enjoy the image. I believe this wholeheartedly and I'm sticking to my guns on this one.

Please note that I'm not suggesting that my image is a perfect example of the successful integration of two points of interest in an image, I'm just saying that secondary points of interest can be used to frame, balance or complement the main point of interest.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Hi Jon!
I enjoy seen this image a lot and I am going to say why.

1- Very nice light.
2- Handsome subject to photograph.
3- Eye contact (though the eye could be a bit brighter)

I didn't wanted to interfere with your ''reflections'' on the BG, for me they work fine in this image, but if you see it with a different lens, they are distracting from your MAINE subject. I know what you think about it and I respected 100%, after all, is your image.
I felt tempted to crop this image a bit different too, I am not a square format fan, but again, I believe the square format works in this one, I also apply some NR on BG.

I hope you don't mind my input.:):D

[Steve Maxson]

This is a striking image, Jon, for a number of reasons - as noted above. I like Juan's repost, but I feel that there are a number of crops that would work well here. Juan also seems to have cleaned up the noise in the background. One can debate about the reflections, but IMO they make this image unique - it's not just another pretty bird photo. Since you note that the reflections only lasted for a few seconds, I'm assuming that you also have "standard" images (without reflections) should you have a use for them. I think it all boils down to personal taste here. :)

[Tony Whitehead]

Tony, I think we need to strive for layers of interest in our images. We need to stop thinking of secondary points of interest as competing for the viewer's attention and start thinking of these elements as second good reasons to enjoy the image. I believe this wholeheartedly and I'm sticking to my guns on this one.

Please note that I'm not suggesting that my image is a perfect example of the successful integration of two points of interest in an image, I'm just saying that secondary points of interest can be used to frame, balance or complement the main point of interest.

Hi Jon, I respect your opinion entirely. I assume the reason for posting is gather other opinions rather than just validate your own. I'm not saying I'm right, just saying what I like or don't. :)

[Ramon M. Casares]

Stunning! Light, pose, detail, mood, detail, MOOD again.. yes, I love it as presented! Congratualtions!

[Brandon Holden]

wow! this is super! I think I would also like it with the whole reflection of the bird...

Something new and exciting! Congrats

[Juan Aragonés]

This is a very good image from my point of view and I think it has a lot of possibilities for different cropings/compositions/presentations that would work very fine. I am not a big fan of square formats but I have to admit that I like how it works here... well I think that a vertical croping would also works an, of course, a landscape format with a lot of room at the left. The subject is very interesting but I think that the strongest point of this image is the fantastic, alomst surreal, background (and the reason why so many compositions can work in this image). I do like, a lot, the circular reflections comings from the cars and I would keep it in the image. I would run another round of noise reduction on the Bg and a touch of light to the eye. too bad that the whole bird´s reflcetion is not shown. Congratulations for a really fine image :-)