Help me crop this image.

teamracephotos

If you are bored this cold Florida morning, you can play with this image and help me figure out the best way to crop it.
Thanks for any advice offered. Mark

Here is the original.



This is what I came up with.

Giphsub

I like the crop you did That is an interesting pose you got the bird in. It doesn't look real! Nice one.

teamracephotos

Thanks!
He was coming in for a landing. Then he saw me and switched landing spots. MM

Giphsub wrote:

I like the crop you did That is an interesting pose you got the bird in. It doesn't look real! Nice one.

jwear

the crop you did works

teamracephotos

Thanks!
I think I spend too much time messing with stuff like this. I change it then re change it... never seem to be just happy with it. Maybe cropping is something you just have to go with your first instinct and leave it alone.

All I know is I had to get the small tree in the bottom right out of there.

Thanks again. MM

jwear wrote:

the crop you did works

raptorcaptor

Your crop is good! You might try cropping about halfway off of the treeline on the bottom of the photo!

teamracephotos

You are right. Thanks
Last night I tried so many different (thats the main reason I dont do much PP) ways that I just get tired.

Just gave what you suggeation a try, and your are right I dont need the water showing, and it completely gets ride of the limb in the lower right.
Thanks,for some reason I kept thinking I needed to show the water. MM

raptorcaptor wrote:

Your crop is good! You might try cropping about halfway off of the treeline on the bottom of the photo!

Osprey Whisperer

Why settle for just one..... of anything? Often times there are a couple or more cropping variations that work for a shot. Stick with solid rules of composition and your "gut" feeling and you can't go wrong. Having said that...breaking the rules is always fun. After all... it is YOUR shot... and not the viewing public.

kitvan

wow that bird doesn't even look real! really interesting shot

teamracephotos

Thanks!
I like it too. This is a block from my house. I come down here a lot. Never had much luck getting good images of the Egrets because they are always too far away. I once tried to get closer and wound up in the water camera and all. The longest glass I have is Nikon 70-200mm, its a nice lens but does not get me as close as I would like to be. The good thing though is you have to work with what you have... and it seems to be working. MM

kitvan wrote:

wow that bird doesn't even look real! really interesting shot

jonh68

Nice capture and you got some unusual ligthing. Good job.

This is a hard one to crop. You could do a horizontal crop where you basically cut off the bottom 2/3. Or you can do a vertical crop just under the egrets feet if the sharpness stays. You have a really great background, but the egret is too far away from it to make an easy crop. If it were lower, you would have all kinds of options. Try some sacrificing of the background. The bird is the subject, but it's not quite the main subject.

If you were making a poster, it might be good to keep more background. Clone out the leaves on the right, and crop down to the tree on the left where the moss is just touching the water. That way, you would have the egret on the top right corner and it become more of a scene on the river. May want to straighten out the river bank. It probably appears that way in real life, but in a picture, it makes the picture look uneven.

I guess my suggestion is crop closer to the bird, or make a wider crop than you have and include more of the tree but do crop out the water under the tree.

teamracephotos

Thanks for the Great suggestions.
What do you think?
I have watched the birds come in for a few years now, this is where everybody in the hood walks thier dogs. Finally started trying too capture them come home at night. I like the colors in the sky, and the almost painted look of the Egret. Some times you just have to try even though the camera says its way under exposed. Thanks Again! MM




Here one from last night.

jonh68 wrote:

Nice capture and you got some unusual ligthing. Good job.

This is a hard one to crop. You could do a horizontal crop where you basically cut off the bottom 2/3. Or you can do a vertical crop just under the egrets feet if the sharpness stays. You have a really great background, but the egret is too far away from it to make an easy crop. If it were lower, you would have all kinds of options. Try some sacrificing of the background. The bird is the subject, but it's not quite the main subject.

If you were making a poster, it might be good to keep more background. Clone out the leaves on the right, and crop down to the tree on the left where the moss is just touching the water. That way, you would have the egret on the top right corner and it become more of a scene on the river. May want to straighten out the river bank. It probably appears that way in real life, but in a picture, it makes the picture look uneven.

I guess my suggestion is crop closer to the bird, or make a wider crop than you have and include more of the tree but do crop out the water under the tree.

raptorcaptor

teamracephotos wrote:

What do you think?

Here one from last night.

Very cool!

jonh68

I like your new crop and new picture!