Greater Yellowlegs...composition question

Posted by Michael Dossett on Fri Dec 26, 2003 5:09 am

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Hi everyone,

I was digging through old slides and I came across this Greater Yellowlegs. It is one of the very first bird photos I took on slide film. I was experimenting and never went back to prints. I don't have the technicals but I remember taking this on my lunch break a couple years ago before I got my own telephoto using my dad's 70-300mm zoom and a 2x TC.

My question regarding the composition is this... The bird faces to the left and is also to the left of center in the frame. I realize that generally speaking this is a no no, but does it work here because of the interesting ripples behind the bird? I've looked at cropping various amounts off the right and I just haven't come up with anything that really pleases me so I'd really like suggestions on whether this composition works or how best to crop it. Of course any other suggestions and comments are welcome as well

Thanks

Michael

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by Harvey Edelman on Fri Dec 26, 2003 8:14 am

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For my own taste, I'd crop the image on the right side. Whlie the ripples are nice, they're secondary to the subject and I don't think you need to see all of it. Just a small bit of the ripples implies that they are there to the eye and mind. Nice image.

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by E.J. Peiker on Fri Dec 26, 2003 10:57 am

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I definitely vote to put the bird right of center for this shot. Otherwise its well done.

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by Mike Danzenbaker on Fri Dec 26, 2003 1:56 pm

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Michael,

Put me down as undecided. I think you could go either way. You do have interesting ripples in front of (to the left of) the bird as well as behind it, so I think placing it either right or left of center would work. Specifically, try cropping off the top 1/4 and the left 1/4 and see what you think.

I often break the compositional "rule" of the bird facing into the frame when there are nice ripples behind the bird and nothing of interest in front of it, because it results in something lopsided; for example :

http://www.avesphoto.com/website/NA/spe ... RXAN-1.htm

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by Bill Lockhart on Fri Dec 26, 2003 4:42 pm

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Michael: Here is my best idea about a crop. I agree with E.J. -- off balanced to the right. Best regards, Bill

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by Jill on Fri Dec 26, 2003 5:49 pm

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Michael, I really like Bill's repost quite well. I'm guessing USM added ...

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by Anthony Medici on Sat Dec 27, 2003 9:37 am

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I agree with the crop suggestions and the example repost.

Tony

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by Michael Dossett on Sat Dec 27, 2003 12:52 pm

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Thanks everyone,

I like Bill's repost too. I think the key I was missing when I was trying to find crops that I liked from the right side was also taking enough off the top and the bottom to make it look right. The repost is just the ticket I think.

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