Red-tailed hawk and moon rise. 2 photos. which is better?

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Shot last evening. 40D. 400 f/5.6. iso 400. 1/800. f/11. 50% crop of the original. I'll post another one. Let me know which you like more. I prefer this one.

In hindsight, I should have moved to my left and got the moon in the upper left corner with all the lines in the perch pointing towards it. did not cross my mind in the field. rookie mistake.

All opinions welcome.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

iso 640. 1/640. f/14.

[Anand Kavalapara]

I like the second one. It links the RTH with the moon, whereas in the first one they compete for attention.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I find them both interesting but like the second a little better and would sharpen the bird some more.

[Chuck Fritsch]

You could try putting the head from the first onto the second.

[Bill Dix]

It's all a matter of personal preference, of course, but mine is for the second. I concur with Axel about a bit more sharpening of the bird.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Thx all. will look into sharpening. I had to run NR via neatimage on the whole image( too tough to select just the BG) which compromised sharpness a bit.

[Phil Ertel]

Hi Kaustaubh, Another vote for the second image as I like the head angle and prefer the position of the moon.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The second has much more visual impact - quite pleasing really! For the first one I would crop at left to center the moon.

[Harshad Barve]

KD
My vote goes for second image
TFS

[Kiran Poonacha]

I like the second one KD.. nice setting acheived here..

[Betsie Storm]

I also vote for the second one. Nicely thought out.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Thx everyone. I realise that I am in big-time minority for preferring the first one here :-)