Framing / Composition neophyte

[Keta]

The challenge for me is that I rarely get a chance to 'set up' a shot. If I'm close enough to an eagle I just shoot, then deal with the framing later by cropping.
This time I had a chance to put on my small lens, so could try to 'organize' the image slightly. The Heron wouldn't let me get any closer, otherwise it would have been a tighter shot.

Any comments at all would be appreciated!
I like the drama of the wind blowing his feathers, and the play of the weak winter light.

More pics from that day . . . .

Storybook


or is this better ?

(whups, sorry! I keep posting in the wrong forum! )

 

[Keta]

Aw!

Come on you guys, it can't be SO incredibly bad that not one of you has a single comment to make??

 

[kristyiclaremore]

I really like the first one better

 

[Raymond J Barlow]

its a really cool shot.. my main critque would be that we can't see the eyes of the heron very well.. very much a key in wildlife photography.. do you have another shot with its head turned?

 

[Keta]

I certainly do!

telephoto

small lens

Thanks so much! :thumbup: Now you're telling me something I need to know. Anything else??

 

[Raymond J Barlow]

I certainly do!

telephoto

small lens

Thanks so much! :thumbup: Now you're telling me something I need to know. Anything else??

Ok, i see an eye! this is great, i love the scene, and the pose.. now, the horizon looks a little tilted.. can you correct that?

Extremly important to have a level horizon in any landscape/nature shot.

 

[Keta]

Extremly important to have a level horizon in any landscape/nature shot.

OH! I did not know that. Hmm, I thought it looked kind of cool, especially in the first one, with the mountains sloping downwards towards to the left. But I look at those hills in person every day so I guess it's different for me!

Thanks so much for the help, guy. :heart: I have some landscape shots being developed today, so I will press for more insight later in the week.

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

The first two don't do anything for me...mostly because the bird is head on..which does not give it much shape or detail. Maybe an extreme close-up would work with that angle...but not this shot (IMHO).

The next couple are much better.

Where is that, by the way? It looks very familiar but I don't remember the names too well, since I only visit the coast every few years.

 

[Keta]

It's Spanish Banks. West of Kits Beach, past MacDonald street, to Dunbar street.
Jericho Beach starts there, and just past that is my eagles' nest. I go as far west of Spanish Banks as I can, right to the start of the University Endowment Lands.

The view is of the north shore mountains.