Question on Composition: Marbled Godwits in Flight

[Michael Yessik]

I would like to hear everyone's opinion:

1. Good Composition:

Interesting, dynamic, nice symmetry, etc.

2. Not so good composition:

Too much overlap, confusing, etc.

3. Other


D300, 500mm, 1/1250s, f7.1, ISO 1600 - heavy crop

[Sid Garige]

Michael,

I assume the objective of this picture is to show the synchronized flying of godwits. IMO you are in a right track with bulls eye comp with centering the subject in the middle of the frame. To make it much more stronger, I would go for a tighter crop of birds alone.

-Sid

[Michael Yessik]

Thank you for your comments. I have tightened it up somewhat. Better?

[Geoff Warnock]

your repost is definitely an improvement for me. I think you could still improve the cloning job for the background duck.

[Randy Stout]

Michael;

Good thoughts from Sid.
Yes, need to eliminate the duck on the water. (it needs a bit more cleanup, your work is pretty evident)
I would try different crops, esp. with some off the right. You may prefer the center position, perhaps not.

Yes, lots of overlap, what saves it is the fact that the lower head is fairly clear of the back bird.

Image quality is starting to suffer from a combination of the high ISO and large crop.

Composition is always fun, lots of options and opinions.

Cheers

Randy

[Sid Garige]

Nice repost Michael. I made an attempt and kind of lean towards Randy's Idea on taking some of the right. Here is my version.

[allanrube]

Lots of overlap but the 2 heads are what counts here. They are in good positions.

[denise ippolito]

Michael, I like the final repost myself. The two heads look great and I don't mind the overlap at all. Nicely done.:)

[John Chardine]

Interesting! I think it might have helped the confusion if the back bird was a little OOF. However, because it is so big in the frame, this would probably not work for this reason.

[Jay Gould]

Definitely like Sid's RP; the original capture is wonderful too!

[Julie Kenward]

I wouldn't mind seeing them sitting a bit more to the right but the final repost is very nice! If that front wing had been either a little more up or down instead of almost dead center I think this would have been an even stronger image but it's a beauty as is!

[Michael Yessik]

Thanks to everyone for your comments. I did like it myself originally, and I agree that the last re-post is even better. I was reluctant to crop even more than I first did, because it was starting to lose image quality, but it does work. And, even more, I have a better understanding of why it works, which, as a few of you pointed out, it is because the heads are well separated.

Thanks again, and Hi! to Denise.