I do enjoy taking close-up portrait shots but am also interested in including more of the environment. How does this work as an environmental shot? I feel that I'm very compositionally challenged - it's so subjective. I have a hard time knowing how much space to include. I'm thinking that there is enough room on the right, the direction the bird is facing. I wonder about the top - too much of nothing? Perhaps there are other compositional (or technical) issues I haven't considered. Any feedback is appreciated!
Pretty bird with a nice background. The problem for me is that the bird plays too small of a part in the overall photo. It's lost in a sea of green. The excess background and extra branches don't give you any more of a sense of environment than would a tighter crop. How does this work for you?
Doug, thanks for your input. I like the crop. What you say makes sense, not to include so much of the environment that it takes away from the subject. Now you can see why I consider myself compositionally challenged. ;)
Hi, If there were more of an "environmental" background other than the tree branches, then you would probably want to include that information to show a subject's environment. So, I agree, a bigger crop works better in this image.
Liz - I'm glad someone else is "compositionally challenged"! As more of a photgraphing birder rather than a birding photographer , I often prefer the additional perspective in an image provided through extra BG or habitat surrounding the bird tself. I feel it tells more a story of the birds' interaction with its environment. I know nothing about kingbirds but your very candid and natural image tells me a lot about its behaviour that I might not have necessarily gleaned from viewing the bird in a tighter cropped configuration. But it's something that's completely subjective as you say, and the re-crop performed by Doug works as well. So too would a compromise (i.e. something between the original and Doug's version). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I shoot with a 300mm with a 1.4x converter - not always enough 'grunt' to get that close-up image of little birds, so lots of BG and habitat occurs by default with me! Until I post some of my 'bird in habitat' images Liz, I'll enjoy yours - keep up the good work!:)
Chris - thanks for your thoughts. Actually this bird was perched on some branches of a dead snag which was standing in a small lake. The lake is at a nature center and has many dead snags used by a variety of birds. Perhaps I could have told more of an environmental story had I been able to include some of the water in the photo. I'm not sure I could have gotten the right angle in this case, but I'll definitely be visiting that spot again this spring and I will keep that in mind.
Eastern Kingbird
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