The Gift, does it work?

[Fabs Forns]

I never get tired of these magnificent birds, especially when they are in the nesting season. Every year we have that opportunity at Wakodahatchee Wetlands, where we had 8 active nests, at least, this season.
This is a horizontal capture, with the feet cut. I have the full wing but decided to try another approach to the composition. Feet don't bother me since they are not cut at the joints.
Does the general image design, focusing on the lines of the two heads and chests work for you?

Date: 4/18/09
Time: 8:32:12 AM
Model: NIKON D3
Lens (mm): 500
ISO: 400
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 1/1250

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Yes...I liked it. very unique. Do you think a little sharpness is needed? I should check from my much better laptop from home.

well done as always

[Fabs Forns]

Yes...I liked it. very unique. Do you think a little sharpness is needed? I should check from my much better laptop from home.

well done as always

Thanks, Kaustubh, glad you like the compo.
Regarding the sharpening, I just used it on the faces, because the plumes get easily oversharpened.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Magic light with killer poses!!!

[Alfred Forns]

I like how you worked the crop Fabs Pleasing ... love those poses !!!

[Tell Dickinson]

Works for me Fabs :) Although it is quite a bit different, when I saw this it reminded me of a book cover by a certain well known gentleman :)

Tell

[Michael Wolf]

Fabs,

It works for me as well.
All the necessary elements are there and I did not feel as though
any one thing was missing.

[Mital Patel]

Fabs i am no expert but still i've made two changes.

1. midtone enhance still highlits and white's are as it is untouched
2. slective sharpness as you mentioned not to enhance plums for sharpness.

(I may be wrong but still dare to post to learn wrong/right in this what i've thought of).

[Fabs Forns]

It looks good to me, Mital, thanks for taking the time to repost :)


Thanks everyone for taking the time to give me feedback, very much appreciated.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Poses are great, and lighting is nice too. I like the midtone enhancements Mital provided. Congrats! :)

[Morkel Erasmus]

liked the original, but I think Mital's touch-up enhanced it. comp works very well for me Fabs since it's not your run-of-the-mill heron shot and portrays great interaction with a 'story' to it. you can almost feel his fear of her rejecting his home-building material :)

[Chris Kotze]

Super comp and detail. lovely capture

[Dave Barnes]

Hi Fabs I like the concept of the crop and may have even gone a step further to further emphasize the curves formed by the necks and wing.
I trust you dont mind my input, something like this? Should have the total wing curve of the front bird though.

[Fabs Forns]

Thanks, Dave, I have that crop too, but I'd like, as you mention, the whole curve of the wing :)
Great minds think alike ;)

[DarrenMcKenna]

I like the one up, one down composition, I like that you have good detail in the whites. Overall you might have gone just a tad brighter. A wonderful image IMO.

[Juan Aragonés]

Sure it works Fabs, in fact, it works very well. I like it a lot :-)