Black-necked stilt in habitat A or B

[arash_hazeghi]

Here are two more shots from the "bird in habitat" series for the Local nature park. The specie is Black-necked stilt in winter. Unfortunately I had only 30 minutes before sunset and only two were there so not that many shots, I want to choose between one of these

Photo A:

Everything seems checked for except for horizon line intersecting with bird :(

[arash_hazeghi]

Photo B:

BG clear, still little bit of marsh habitat but light and eye contact not as nice



both are 5D 500f/4 + 1.4X TC iso 800 f/8 1/2000sec.

Thanks!

[christopher galeski]

arash,I imo would go for A,good eye contact,nice exposure,like the colors in the bg,photo B is ok,but imo,I am not too keen on the pale blue bg and fg.thanks.

[Bill Dix]

Arash - Both are beautifully composed. B is lovely as is, although the less-than-perfect eye contact is noted. I love the painterly quality of the BG in image A (except for the bit of white blur), but too bad its so dark. I'm not good with gradient filters, but is it possible to lighten just the upper part of the bg? If so, this would be a real winner in my book.

[Alfred Forns]

Tough choice both very nice and with a different feel ! Pressed to go for one would need to go to the first one, love the eye contact and overall feel !! Would only take the light stripe from the bg

.... btw this is one great example for head angle. Shows why we keep hammering :)

[Lance Peters]

A for me as well Arash - HA is better - eye contact is better.
Agree on removing the white srtip.

[Dave Mills]

Arash, A is my choice. Both have good qualities but I like the positioning of the A bird better.I would take out the small white band in A's backround.

[Reza Gorji]

Arash: Stunningly beautiful pictures. I love both of them. Thanks for the metadata in picture 2.

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks everybody, so B is disqualified.

I also found this one, now the pick is between this and A



I will get rid of white band later.