_MG_0848 by Joel Bookhammer, on Flickr
Would like to hear your thoughts on the composition and overall image. I took this while walking my dog this morning. I was hoping to see a Great Egret which is kind of uncommon in my area this time of year, but instead saw this Great Blue Heron as well as another perched just to the left and in a tree out of frame. The image is purposefully dark, but may be too dark.
The "Just left of center" positioning feels off.
Ideally you'd be well off center (rule of thirds). I feel like proper center would be better here. I crudely cropped it (ie: held my hand over the right hand side of the picture) just past the triangle (diamond w/ reflection), and preferred it. I could also be that the bright log to the right pulls the eye away, and I'm cropping that. Everything else over there is very dark, so I'm not really losing content, removing a distraction, and improving horizontal symmetry.
On Flickr - Namethatnobodyelsetook on Flickr
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Honest appraisal is I am not a fan. To much dark space, bird is there but doesn't really stand out. The bird feels like it is part of the background not the subject.
You are right it is to dark.
However I clicked on the pic and followed it to your flicker account. The Grand Canyon Rainbow pic is awesome.
I definitely like where you're going with this. The panorama crop works well, except for that log on the far right which is a bit of a distraction. I think it would be okay to clone the log out, or just tighten the crop to keep it out of the frame. And yes the bird should probably be a bit more to the right, like David pointed out. Thanks for sharing this!
Jonathan Huyer
www.huyerperspectives.com
Definitely an interesting shot. Works a bit better with more detail when clicking through to flickr. Properly exposing your subject, regardless of what it does to the background, is the right thing. Actually, I have seen some amazing shots with a properly exposed subject and dark backgrounds. Sometimes it helps if the subject is just a tad underexposed or if the contrast is low, but depends on how much you want contrast to make your subject pop vs have the tone feel consistent. Here, I think the GBH is still a bit overexposed, mostly in the highlights/whites. I would start by toning those down a fair amount and the overall image by ~1/3 stop. I'd probably drop contrast a bit until it feels better, right now it is pretty contrasty. I would also tighten in on the GBH, eliminating some of the blank headspace, balance by doing the same to the lower part of the picture. Symmetry is key to this type of image, so I agree with Jonathan, the log to the right needs to be cloned or cropped out, but you want the darkness to be uniform on both sides and, as David mentioned, I would have the GBH centered. Finally, and I get caught in this conundrum all the time as I love the vertical symmetry of a reflected bird in water, but I would play with losing some of the reflection. I am not sure if it is right for this image, but do not be afraid to try (I am sometimes so in love with it that the overall image suffers).
Overall, great shot, especially for a walk with your dog.
Perhaps something like this ?
Joel's PP definitely increased the desirability. Brightening the reflections brings it up dramatically.
Although Joels' jpg was to small to really get a good grasp overall effect.
_MG_0848a by Joel Bookhammer, on Flickr
Thank you to everyone for the replies! Here is an updated version of the original image, I cropped keeping the same aspect ratio which eliminated the distraction on the right hand side as well as some of the top and bottom. I also adjusted the brightest slightly and reduced the contrast. This may be one of those shots when editing on a corrected monitor would be very beneficial. Once again thanks for all the replies and do you like this updated version any better? Also when I took the dog out this morning there were 3 GBH and I saw the Great Egret but it was a good half to 3/4 of a mile away but it is still hanging around the area.
Yeah, it definitely looks a lot better!
Also if you brighten it up a bit and use some vignette to draw in the subject can give you that darker feel but still draw the subject in. Otherwise it gets to dark overall. A little goes a long way, you won't need too much.
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