Something different for a change

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Still taken during my Hokkaido trip in early February but this is a closeup of a preening Red-Crowned Crane. If the mods feel that this belongs more into OOTB, well, go ahead...

JR

Canon 1DMkIV, 500F4IS, 1/1000s, F8, ISO 400, Manual Exposure, Gitzo tripod w/ upgraded Mongoose 3.5a

[Levina de Ruijter]

Hi Joerg. I'm a bit hesitant to give you my opinion, because it doesn't work for me. In general I do like big close-ups, but with this image I don't know what I'm looking at. There are no points or bits that I can identify and from which I can 'see' the rest of the bird and the pose, and I feel totally lost in the image. Maybe it's me?

[ChasMcRae]

For an abstract I think it works with the red head feathers setting the white "off".
If you had not mentioned Japan I would have been lost also.

[Clemens Vanderwerf]

Joerg, I like the image as you have to really look what is what. It would have been perfect if the eye was visible through the feathers.

[Daniel Cadieux]

It certainly is different. Always fun to experiment and try to see things in an alternate way - not many people brave pressing the shutter in these situations so kudos for doing so. Having said this, although the image had me studying it a bit it is not talking to me much. As Clemens points out having an eye visible somewhere would have given this a huge additional impact.

[James Salywoda]

its different but I think I agree with daniel as it would of been nice if the eye was visible.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Thank you all for taking the time to comment. I realize that this image is not everyone's cup of tea. The way I look at it is as a complete abstract - colors, shapes and textures. I don't even want to think of it as a bird. Hence, an eye would actually be taking away from the image in my opinion.

JR

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks for explaining your thought process Joerg, it hepls in understanding what you were trying to portray.