Snail Kite with Turtle: Feedback Please!

[Doug Brown]

I clipped the wings of this Snail Kite, but the image was a keeper for me because of the turtle. What do you all think? Does the turtle save the day for my Snail Kite with clipped wings?



Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm, f/8, 1/1600, ISO 500, manual exposure, hand held from boat

[Robert Amoruso]

Yes Doug IMO.

[Ilija Dukovski]

It definitely works for me. Not only you got the turtle, but great HA and excellent
colors on the face and talon, creating nice diagonal composition. The overall IQ is excellent too.
The only remark is that the turtle could get bit more attention, perhaps with a tighter crop.
Here's my suggestion.

Also I would experiment with brightening the turtle too.
The Bright patch on the right of the turtle must go too.


Cheers,

[Myer Bornstein]

Definitely YES

[Phil Ertel]

Hi Doug, In my opinion this is a keeper. The image quality is good and the turtle makes this interesting. I tighter crop might be another option.

[Haim Ziv]

It works for me too. Wish to myself picture like this.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Doug, It does work. Do you have more room above? might be better since the kite is looking upward. Nice capture. With the shape of that beak, chances of the turtle dont look very good. Thx for sharing.

[Dan Brown]

Absolutely works Doug! The great HA, the behavioral story (Turtle Kite?) plus the great sharpness add up to a very, very good image IMO!! Awesome!

[Mark Dumbleton]

This works IMO! Works very well. Techs handled really well, and you nailed the HA!
Lovely image!

[thijs broekkamp]

It works for me too. Nice capture!

[Loukie Viljoen]

YES, PITY THE DAY WAS NOT THE SAVING OF THE TURTLE, WELL DONE!!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Super shot Doug, I have to agree if the wings were all there even better, but as is it is still a really first class image, you have captured some amazing detail and the colours are superb.

[Markus Jais]

Doug, I think this does work very well. I like the tight composition. The turtle is of of course a great bonus to the shot but it would have even worked for me without it.

Markus

[denise ippolito]

Really nice Doug. I like the image quality and the turtle really is a nice bonus. Love the talons and the eye.:)

[Stu Bowie]

Doug, this whole image is pin sharp, not to mention those talons. With regards to the comp, the overall IQ puts this in the top bracket, so who cares about the clipped wings. Of course his catch is a bonus. Is that not a tortoise, as a turtle has a flatter shell? Maybe the angle is deceiving, and you know its a turtle. Congrats on a great capture.

[David Billingsley]

Doug,

Great shot - great details - I like the original post best. Congrats.

[Alan Stankevitz]

Oh gosh, am I the only one that may think this may not work? Or am I missing something? I am not bothered by the crop of the kite without the wings, but where's the head/eyes of the turtle? Maybe it's more visible in the full-res version?

Personally, I like to see the eyes of the prey on a close-up such as this. Everything else is perfect.


Alan

[Nick Palmieri]

Like it as presented. The head and talons are tack sharp.

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent sharpness and derails, tortoise is a plus! I prefer a vert crop here to concentrate on the head, talones and prey. Techs are very good, TFS

[Bonnie Block]

Keeper for sure--I like your rendition. The tail adds to the image IMO and I like the room in front.

[Jim Fenton]

I agree 100% with what ILIJA did for it.

[Fabs Forns]

I'd keep it but the compo seems unbalanced to me, too much negative on the right side.

[Rich Steel]

Hi Doug

You capture a great piece of behaviour here. Superb detail, lighting and background. For me the tighter crop works better.

Cheers

Rich

[Daniel Cadieux]

This is way awesome!! I prefer the original comp to the tight one as I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fanned tail. Perhaps a true square comp with some off the right would be good...but please don't mess with that tail!!:cool: I'd also smooth out the OOF light circle directly next to the turtle.

[Karl Egressy]

Great flight shot, Doug. It tells the story without the rest of the wings. I like the original crop. It gives space for the bird to fly into.

[Arthur Morris]

It is a turtle not a tortoise. As for seeing the turtle's eyes, I am pretty sure that we are looking at the rear end so seeing the eyes would be a bit difficult :) This killer image works amazingly well for me. If you would even consider deleting this one you ...... I would crop from the top just a smidge to the bend of the far wing... And here is another ix-nay for Ilija's crop :confused: :)

[Mike Tracy]

I find this discussion interesting from a personal perspective. All too often I get a frame of these birds with everything technically sound including hunting, feeding or the carrying of food only to clip their large wings.

Tech wise you nailed all aspects and I love the background as its atypical. Compositionally wise you have done the best with what you had to work with. I think you want this to work more then it actually does IMO and I have been there myself countless times whether it's photographing birds, sports, etc. I view it as a almost great shot but the clipped wings are a bummer for me.

The turtles cool and is a good indication they are adapting to another food source.

[Arthur Morris]

I should have mentioned this the first time: these wings are cut not clipped. If the whole bird were in the frame we would be robbed of seeing some amazing details in the talons, the tail, and the turtle for starters. When I intentionally create portraits showing only part of the bird folks often ask, "Why didn't you show the whole bird?" They are simply missing the point.... The point being that the details are what I am looking for.

[Mike Tracy]

I should have mentioned this the first time: these wings are cut not clipped. If the whole bird were in the frame we would be robbed of seeing some amazing details in the talons, the tail, and the turtle for starters. When I intentionally create portraits showing only part of the bird folks often ask, "Why didn't you show the whole bird?" They are simply missing the point.... The point being that the details are what I am looking for.

I agree in principle as I am constantly exploring cropping non conventional ways for better or worse, I just don't post many of them.

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[Ofer Levy]

This is not a keeper - this is a stunner!!! If anything I would move the bird a bit more toi the right - other than that it's fantastic IMO !!!

[Danny Laredo]

Fantastic capture! llija repost also works very well.

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for the repost Ilija! I'll study it today and play around with the image.

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone!

[James Salywoda]

Personally I like your presentation Doug it looks great as I focus my eyes throughout this excellent image.:)

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

What else to say? just wonderful, I love those talons and the clarity you achieved in this one. I don't mind the cutted wings.

[Vida van der Walt]

Definitely works Doug! Super image. Love the detail, catch and ditto excellent IQ. Prefer your original post.:)