Anhinga with fish/redo

Gallery: AvianPosted January 16, 2017313 views7 comments

Gainesville, Florida
1/13/2017 – 10:29:36 AM
Canon EOS 7D EF400mm f/5.6L USM
1/1000 sec; f/9; ISO 400
Manual; Spot metering
LR5, PS6, Topaz DeNoise on the background, Topaz Detail on bird and fish, Curves adjustment layer to lighten everything, attempted to crop for positioning, but wasn't sure how to do it.

When a bird like an Anhinga has its neck stuck out of the water, that doesn't take up much space in an image. The fish here helps a great deal. But an Anhinga is long, so you can't crop any closer at the left or you will cut the bird off. You can't crop more at the right or it will leave the Anhinga with nowhere to go. I thought the fish and the reflection of the fish should probably be evenly spaced regarding the top and bottom of the image. Would you do something differently?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Jim Gavin on January 16, 2017 at 12:19 AM

I like the position of the Anhinga, especially the reflection. On my monitor (which is pretty old) the Anhinga's head and eye are a bit soft.

Registered on August 14, 2008, 293 Posts, 1250 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 16, 2017 at 9:13 AM

I like this crop, Barbara. The only other option I could see for this is to treat the neck as if it were pretty much the whole bird and ignore the lovely reflection. I prefer this version. You might want to straighten the image so the reflection lines up vertically with the bird. Lovely image.

devil

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on January 16, 2017 at 10:50 AM

THe speared fish makes this image for me.

As far as composition goes, there are times when cropping away part of the body is a better choice. I've sent you my take in email.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on January 16, 2017 at 4:55 PM

Hi Barb,

A little tighter crop and straightening is all that is needed as mentioned in prior critiques. I like the image because I can tell that the prey is a bluegill sunfish........................Jim

Registered on January 17, 2004, 705 Posts, 3594 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on January 16, 2017 at 6:09 PM

Here is a rotation and a tighter crop. I think it's tighter than some of you meant, but what do you think?

With this tight crop I also went back and was much more careful in the selection for sharpening.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 16, 2017 at 10:48 PM

Nice job on the repost, Barbara. Different in a good way. I like it.

devil

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on January 17, 2017 at 1:57 PM

This is a very cool image Barbara. I really like the vertical crop that gives the viewer a great look at the Anhinga and the fish. Big improvement imo. The reflection makes this for me. devil

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments