1) Rule of thirds. When snapping birds through a window that is framed by curtains, I often don't have time to consider perfect composition. If I wait too long, I'm photographing an empty branch. I'll often plant the bird smack in the middle of the frame and plan to crop later.
2) Cropping: The small finch in the original shot is nearly lost in the branches. Cropping focuses interest on the main subject.
3) Framing: I love to shoot objects through natural frames. I considered cropping out the branches on the far left, but it made the photo too heavy on the bottom. Instead, I framed my crop to place the bird in the lower right third of the image, framed by surrounding branches, and kept the left-most branches for an anchor.
I played with Levels and brightness, and bumped the hue & saturation on the bird only just a touch, to really pop him off the branch. I considered changing the rest of the image to B&W, but it was already so pale and neutral I decided to leave it au naturel.
Comments on my decisions most welcome!
Edit: Taking Julie's advice, I cropped out some of the left-most branches. Her suggestion proved to be right-on. I thought while I was at it, I'd clone out some of those soft-focus branches as well. See image #3.
Shot manual, handheld. Shutter: 1/250, f/5.6, ISO 200, focal length 281mm
Wow Val - nice A+ from me on the mini assignment -- I love birds and I love this shot cropped in close!
ReplyDeleteGreat mini-assignment, Val. It's so helpful to hear your coherent thought process laid out like that. I'm in favor of everything you did but I think you could do with less of the branch on the left. I'd crop to the point where only the part of the branch that looks like a reindeer antler will be visible in the top left.
ReplyDeleteI love the crop Julie suggested...aren't you good, three rules in one...now that is thinking! :)
ReplyDeleteI like the one smack dab in the middle, although the croppings give more detai, the look disconnected to the world, I do believe however that you trained that bird to frame himself, saves you the job right. He looks cold invite him inside where it is warm.
ReplyDeleteI love the third one. It is simply beautiful!! I love that the bird has red in it - I think any other color against the snow would not pop as much.
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done and I appreciate your explanation.
ReplyDeleteMy preference is for the third (bottom) version. I like it being a little less busy on that left side.
ReplyDeleteI do think, though, that you (me, we, us...) have to consider what you are ultimately doing with the photo when you prepare to crop. If you were planning to mat and frame that bottom shot, you might find the bird a little too close to the edge of the mat/frame. I've occasionally been very satisfied with a crop--until I tried to frame the printed photo and found I didn't leave enough for the cropping that occurs under the frame edge.
The extra bit of cropping was just what was needed. I enjoyed hearing your thought process on how you set up your shot and where you ended up.
ReplyDeleteHey, Val, your edit (#3) looks terrific. Glad the crop suggestion worked. And your cloning made a big difference too - brings the little bird out even more. Great job!
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ReplyDeleteMy choice would be the one on the bottom, it gives the impression that it has plenty of space to take flight. Thank you for sharing your composition thoughts.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful bird! It is nice to know your thought process. I like Lorri's point, sure is a lot to think of.... :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful bird! It is nice to know your thought process. I like Lorri's point, sure is a lot to think of.... :-)
ReplyDeleteThe little color-pop of the finch sure makes a difference! I agree with the others about the 3rd photo, just cropping a little off the left made a stronger image. Great shot, birds are hard to get!
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