Too much sand or just right?

[Dawn Currie]

I really liked the action in this one, though a bit more DOF would have been nice (no time to change ISO ATT). I'm specifically looking for feedback regarding cropping. I applied ROT putting the top left intersection point between the aggressing bird's eyes, the left vertical ROT line also runs through the lower bird's eye, the horizontal portion of the shadow runs along the bottom ROT line, with the birds and shadow as a complete subject taking up the left 2/3 of the image. This puts a lot of sand to the right, in the direction the birds are traveling. Do you like this cropping? what would you do?
Technical data: Canon 450D, EF100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens, 160 mm focal length, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6. Contrast, etc tweaked in ACR, unsharp mask applied to birds, two partial gulls and a few bits of dark debris cloned out to remove distractions, cropping as described above (lost less then 10% of original image).

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Take some from the RHS too much neg space IMO. Nice action shot, sun looks hight (contrast) - what was time of day.

[Dawn Currie]

I took this at around 4:30 PM

[Chris Korman]

I really liked the action in this one, though a bit more DOF would have been nice (no time to change ISO ATT). I'm specifically looking for feedback regarding cropping.

I think the birds are bit squeezed on the LHS. Perhaps add some canvas back if you have any.

[Sid Garige]

Dawn,

Your crop works for me. Great action well captured. IMO shadows add a little bit of depth to the image and make it little more interesting. Intense action at "Golden mean" works very well.

=Sid

[Gordon McKechnie]

My vote is to shift the birds a bit further right & down in the frame. Lovely action, though

[Gerald Kelberg]

I also like the action and the shadows. But to me it is lost a bit on the background of sand. I get a more powerful image by cropping much closer to the shadows - taking the right edge to within an inch or so and the bottom to about half an inch of the shadow of the nearer bird. ROT is almost there and still works in my opinion.

G.

[Peter Farrell]

I also have trouble at times balancing an aesthetic crop against the ROT. I have been leaning towards the aesthetic over an exact ROT crop. For my repost I added canvas to the top and took some from the bottom and right.
Nice capture of this "disagreement", I bet it was over a meal?
Peter

[Bill Dix]

Nice action captured here, Dawn. Peter's cropped repost helps focus the eye on the action, IMHO.

[Julie Kenward]

I also like the recrop...even with the ROT's on the eye it's too much negative space on the bottom and right. You do need to give the shadows their bit of room but I don't think you need as much as you have here.

Too bad the focus isn't stronger here - that would have been an outstanding action image! The front bird's face is way too soft and the back bird is not as bad but still not strongly in focus. You don't say what your ISO is here so I can't suggest any other settings for you but I would definitely kick up the ss next time.

[Alan Lillich]

I'm with Gordon. A tad too much space on the right and bottom, a tad too little on the top and left. Peter's recrop helps, but I would take more off the right. In all other regards a fine image.

[Rachel Farquhar]

Another vote for a little less sand on the right and a bit more on the left. I like how you caught the gull with his mouth open, as well as capturing their shadows below.

[Dawn Currie]

Thank you all for the informative feedback and discussion. I'm sorry I haven't replied sooner, the unexpected loss of our 5-year old dachshund to a spinal stroke last week and other issues have kept me from the forum. I went out shooting this morning; I'll see if I got anything worth posting and try out a tighter crop on this one.

[Julie Kenward]

Dawn, I'm so sorry for your loss.

[Dawn Currie]

These gulls were fighting over food, as usual. After reviewing all the comments, I've decided to ignore ROT on this one and keep a balanced amount of sand on all four sides of the birds and shadows, with just a tad more in the direction of the movement. Thank you for your input and patience.