Advice on how to crop please.

[Marina Scarr]

Photographed these Long-billed Dowitchers as they crossed paths. Love the lighting and the double ripple effect; however, cannot figure out how to crop effectively. Maybe no crop...maybe pano? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Canon 40D, Canon 400DO & 1.4TC @ 560mm
F5.6, 1/800sec, ISO 400, manual mode
tripod mounted, full frame

Thank you,

Marina

[Dave Mills]

Marina, There are a number of ways this image could be cropped. I'm presenting the way I would do it. I left the subjects centered(which I don't ordinarily do) because of the water ripples(which I like) and the symetry of the subjects. Even though the subjects are merging I think it works in this instance. The image could stand a bit of CCW rotation due to the ripples being on a slight angle. The light in the image is very soft and pleasing.....

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Marina,
Welcome back...haven't seen you in awhile...:) I like the composition, image and capture...the lighting, color tones and hues are superb...I like the fact the each bird is looking in the opposite direction; thus giving the composition a sense of lateral balance...the reflection is a big plus...I too agree with Dave on the pano crop for this one, and on the CCW rotation...well done...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Nonda Surratt]

Lovey image, love the light, colors and the water.

Dave's pano crop works

[Alfred Forns]

Agree with comments and Dave nailed the crop !!! ...here the birds are the main attraction and you want them larger in frame !!! Excellent image and I'm glad your going after multiples, difficult but rewarding !!!

[KurtPreston]

Add my agreement to the crop and CCW rotation. Beautiful light in those birds

[Lynn Mannan]

I agree with everything but the ccw rotation. There are two different sets of ripples that originate from different points. There is no reason they should be "horizontal". Any rotation will tilt the birds from their present vertical.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Lynn...I leveled the ripples(rather quickly) about 1.5 CCW and filled in the top where the gap was formed but didn't take the time to clone in the sides...I just cropped slightly. My main point for doing this was to show that leveling the image really doesn't affect the 2 birds positioning within the image. At least not by my eye...

[Lance Peters]

HI Marina - lovely image - the pano crop works best for me. Love the light and good Ha on both birds - reflection and the ripples a bonus. Well done.

Looking forward to seeing more.

[Ian McHenry]

Hi Marina
As soon as I saw your image I visualised it without the top of the frame and right on Dave cracks it !!!
I had imagined full length pano but as Al says "Birds are the main attraction" so decided not to edit differently.
This said IMHO Dave's first edit has more "snap" to it and gets my vote.
Cheers: Ian Mc

[Gail Spitler]

Most everything has been covered. Just want to say that this is one gorgeous image with wonderful colors. Very, very nice.
Cheers
Gail

[Marina Scarr]

Thank you to all of you who responded with advice on a crop for this picture. Attached is the repost as per your suggestions.

[Alfred Forns]

Excellent Marina Big difference and the birds show much better !!! Very fine image !!!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Beautiful image Marina. So lovely to get two birds in an identical pose. Like the repost with the birds centered. Very nice.