No Regrets for Egrets - Critique?

elementgs · Aug 12, 2014

Looking for feedback on this shot. I thought it turned out well but as per usual, the photos I like do horribly on 500px.

What would make this composition better overall?

Thanks!

LimePanda · Aug 12, 2014

I like it but maybe if the big rock outcrop thing was more in focus it would be better.
I like the hills behind being out of focus but that rock bit is distracting to me.
Just my two cents and remember I'm quite an amateur

snerd · Aug 12, 2014

I think you have too many objects competing for the subject. Two birds, a limb and a huge rock formation. Pick one and go for it again.

WesternGuy · Aug 13, 2014

I agree with what snerd said. The rock outcrop in the background is a tremendous distraction and quickly grabs the viewer's eye away from the egrets. For me, it would be interesting to see how the image looked if you cropped the top part just below the rock outcrop, thus removing it from the photo.

WesternGuy

elementgs · Aug 13, 2014

Thanks for the feedback. It's difficult to get away from that rock. Anywhere on the central coast and it's there. I need to learn how to properly incorporate it into my scenes or move as far away from it as possible...

JacaRanda · Aug 13, 2014

I agree with the others. Simply scrolling this page upward just until I can still see the line of green going across your photo makes a really nice difference. Try giving that a shot - crop just above the green.

Designer · Aug 13, 2014

Often a picture with several competing elements can be improved by cropping to just one subject.

keyseddie · Aug 13, 2014

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lambertpix · Aug 13, 2014

Ok, here's a thought (don't everyone pile on all at once) -- I'm really starting to wonder if 500px has jumped the shark a bit.

I absolutely think there are things that might have been done to make this more of a "wow" photo -- if you could've positioned your POV lower to raise the egrets up against the sky a bit rather than position against the landscape in the background, for instance, that might have helped. Nevertheless, I don't think you really want to judge your success or failure merely based on how stuff does there. I just took a cruise through folks I follow on 500px, and I saw several photos that seemed to have scored lots higher or lots lower than I'd have expected. I'm not going to single anyone out, lest they be lurking around here, but I saw a couple photos that I considered pretty weak that scored fairly well, and some that I thought were quite good that really didn't get any attention at all. I also saw a couple photos from people that I swear I'd seen before, for what that's worth.

I've seen the same thing with some of my photos -- some of the ones that I thought were just "meh" wound up doing better than expected, and others that I thought were really good just got crickets. I haven't played around with stuff like time of day, or whatever, and my cynical streak suggests that there may be some people gaming the system a bit. Whatever the case, I just don't consider 500px to be all that definitive any more in terms of what's "good" and what's "bad". I think you're way further off seeking input where you can find it, taking that input with a grain of salt, and reflecting on your own work with a critical eye.

pgriz · Aug 13, 2014

Agree with above posters. What's the subject? If egrets, then the background should be less prominent - using a thin DOF (large aperture) could do that. Also a different vantage point, with some more separation between the egrets and the background massive. As Eddie has noted, the original image is actually two images - above the waterline is one image, and below the waterline is another. The two don't connect, other than that they were at the same place.