Posted by Jeff Harrison on September 24, 2009 at 5:07 AM
I'd appreciate some advice regarding the composition of this image please.
As anyone who's tried will know, these dart-like birds are pretty tricky to capture in flight. I managed to catch this one as it came out of a 'cleansing dip' (and was still accelerating) and I'm quite pleased with the sharpness of it.
However, during cropping I went against the conventional wisdom of leaving space for the bird to move into so as to retain the whole of the watersplash area. But has it worked?
Also, I know the complicated background is rather distracting and have already toned down the brighter areas but would welcome any suggestions as to how to improve it further.
Thanks for looking.
Taken with Canon EOS30D, Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS lens at 130mm, f/2.8, 1/1600th sec, ISO 800 with -1/3 exp comp
Posted by Calum Dickson on September 24, 2009 at 5:56 AM
Jeff I've witnessed this cleansing behaviour many times. Always by a male like this one... the bird flies up to nest and delivers a fish and then returns down river to the same cleansing perch (about 100-150m away) does a poo and then goes for a shower, sometimes up to 4 showers, before drying off and going on it's next sortie. The perch is always very low and the background very distracting
If you don't want a distracting background then the only way is going to be to get into the water and take the shot facing ups tream or go downstream and shoot from the same side as the perch. I've tried the same shot but am lucky to have a ford in the river within shooting distance of the perch so don't have to get wet.
Knowing the behaviour I think the shot works as it is and I would have cropped it exactly the same way. It works for me, other more experienced people on here will probably offer better advice.
Calum
Posted by Jorne de Bruin on September 24, 2009 at 6:20 AM
Love the action captured here Jeff. I also quite like the composition you've chosen, altough maybe not 'conventional' I find it works very well here! My suggestion for the background would be to use curves to darken the complete background, not just the brighter area's. Looking at the bg I'd also do a ccw rotation of the image, if that is possible without cutting of the splash of course.
Posted by David Sewell on September 24, 2009 at 7:01 AM
Hi Jeff,
When I first looked at this image I thought Wow!, so the background is not too distracting for me. What does upset me a little is the way the water appears to be moving down hill, so I agree with Jorne that you need to do as much of a CCW rotation as you can get away with without cutting the splash off. It does not worry me that the bird is flying out of the picture, in this case it just adds to the dynamism of the shot.
I agree with the down hill effect, also yes convention say's space to move into, I don't always follow it, but it makes me feel or want to see more on the right, don't find the background distracting, kingfisher looks over sharpened to me, I find this very easy to do with my own stuff so I'm very weary of it.
You did very well to get this shot, I have been following your kingfisher diary for the past couple of years, hope the missus is feeling better
Posted by eric weight on September 24, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Cracking shot Jeff,
It is always difficult to decide what is best in a case like this. The image looks pretty level to me, but the water appears to be running downhill because of the angle that the river runs through the frame. I can't see any reflections that you could confidently use to re-orientate the image, so if it was me I would leave it as it is. A tiny bit less sharpening on the bird maybe; but what a fine shot. Eric
Posted by Tim Munsey on September 24, 2009 at 2:56 PM
Impressive stuff, I agree with reduction in sharpening, wish it were mine!
Tim
Posted by Duncan Armour on September 24, 2009 at 3:18 PM
Would love to have taken it. The CCW rotation looks like it would help. There's just enough of the main tree branch reflection to give you a sense of what "level" would be. If this isn't cropped already that would leave you with a fair bit of cloning in of water which is cheating of course ! No need for space for the bird to move into as the water trail holds the attention.
Posted by Peter Edge on September 24, 2009 at 3:26 PM
The rotation aside I like the composition. because he is going up at a diagonal it feels like there is more room for him to fly into and the story is the splash behind him. I would love to have taken this ons.
Discussion
8 repliesAs anyone who's tried will know, these dart-like birds are pretty tricky to capture in flight. I managed to catch this one as it came out of a 'cleansing dip' (and was still accelerating) and I'm quite pleased with the sharpness of it.
However, during cropping I went against the conventional wisdom of leaving space for the bird to move into so as to retain the whole of the watersplash area. But has it worked?
Also, I know the complicated background is rather distracting and have already toned down the brighter areas but would welcome any suggestions as to how to improve it further.
Thanks for looking.
Taken with Canon EOS30D, Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS lens at 130mm, f/2.8, 1/1600th sec, ISO 800 with -1/3 exp comp
If you don't want a distracting background then the only way is going to be to get into the water and take the shot facing ups tream or go downstream and shoot from the same side as the perch. I've tried the same shot but am lucky to have a ford in the river within shooting distance of the perch so don't have to get wet.
Knowing the behaviour I think the shot works as it is and I would have cropped it exactly the same way. It works for me, other more experienced people on here will probably offer better advice.
Calum
When I first looked at this image I thought Wow!, so the background is not too distracting for me. What does upset me a little is the way the water appears to be moving down hill, so I agree with Jorne that you need to do as much of a CCW rotation as you can get away with without cutting the splash off. It does not worry me that the bird is flying out of the picture, in this case it just adds to the dynamism of the shot.
David
You did very well to get this shot, I have been following your kingfisher diary for the past couple of years, hope the missus is feeling better
It is always difficult to decide what is best in a case like this. The image looks pretty level to me, but the water appears to be running downhill because of the angle that the river runs through the frame. I can't see any reflections that you could confidently use to re-orientate the image, so if it was me I would leave it as it is. A tiny bit less sharpening on the bird maybe; but what a fine shot.
Tim
Pete