What do you think of this composition

Posted by Matthew Studebaker on Tue Jan 02, 2024 5:21 pm

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Guys I'm struggling with the compositions from this sequence of images. Be brutal. You can see I cropped with just a little room on the right of the right bear, left of the left bear, and reasonable space at the top. I left room for the crossed paws but cropped off the inactive paw of the right bear. Does that bother you? They were fighting so close I didn't quite get their feet in the frame with my 600mm.

For exposure and processing, I exposed for the highlights on the fur, letting a few of the hottest whites go on the water. That, in turn, left the overall scene a little dark. So . . . is it too dark for you like this? Honest feedback is the only way to get better. I'm second guessing how dark the blacks have become.
Nikon 600mm f4, Nikon D850, 1/3200, f4, ISO 800.

Matthew Studebaker
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by david fletcher on Wed Jan 03, 2024 7:03 am

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Here goes my thoughts Matthew.

1. It's your view so stick with how you like it. Composition, feelings, how we see images that please us are subjective. The most important person to satisfy is yourself if that makes sense.
2. Re the image. The paw doesn't bother me. Cropping with the space you left on the right makes sense as we "westerners" view left to right, leaving the image weighted in the right where we would normally like it.
3. Not too dark for processing and don't care about the water highlights. Over processing can remove any feeling and emotion left in an image and make it sterile. Besides, there needs to be shadow areas to provide shape and form.

Good to see you around. My comments are views only and no one was hurt in the process. LOL

Works for me!

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by Cynthia Crawford on Wed Jan 03, 2024 7:10 am

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Great questions! Nice you feel comfortable asking. Can you include the "missing" paw? I'd like to see that, unless it wasn't in the frame at all. (Not sure what is actually missing in the original) Don't mind the crop otherwise. I guess you might end up with a square crop though? Unless you can widen the sides a bit? A click on this brightens it up quite a bit. Looks good. The water adds a lot to the drama. If you posted the whole picture in a reply, it would , perhaps be easier to evaluate what you did here.
Great dramatic shot!

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"If I Keep a Green Bough in My Heart, the Singing Bird Will Come" Chinese Proverb

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by Axel Hildebrandt on Wed Jan 03, 2024 8:49 am

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Great interaction, I could also see this as a tighter crop emphasizing the heads. I might try to lift the midtones a bit to get more details in the darker parts of the fur.

Axel Hildebrandt

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by Mary Brun on Wed Jan 03, 2024 4:24 pm

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Great shot and great action. I agree with David entirely.

Mary

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by paul fletcher on Thu Jan 04, 2024 8:51 pm

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A wonderful dramatic image, Matthew ! Perhaps seeing the paw on the right bear would add a little to the photograph, but that's just my opinion, and the image as it stands would certainly be considered by all viewers to be very special. ( Thank you for reviewing my recent Cooper's Hawk submission, for the Naturescapes Birds Gallery category).

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by Matthew Studebaker on Fri Jan 05, 2024 5:33 pm

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david fletcher wrote: Here goes my thoughts Matthew.

1. It's your view so stick with how you like it. Composition, feelings, how we see images that please us are subjective. The most important person to satisfy is yourself if that makes sense.
2. Re the image. The paw doesn't bother me. Cropping with the space you left on the right makes sense as we "westerners" view left to right, leaving the image weighted in the right where we would normally like it.
3. Not too dark for processing and don't care about the water highlights. Over processing can remove any feeling and emotion left in an image and make it sterile. Besides, there needs to be shadow areas to provide shape and form.

Good to see you around. My comments are views only and no one was hurt in the process. LOL

Works for me!

ok that helps David I really appreciate the feedback!

Matthew Studebaker
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by Matthew Studebaker on Fri Jan 05, 2024 5:33 pm

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Mary Brun wrote: Great shot and great action. I agree with David entirely.

ok thanks very much!

Matthew Studebaker
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by Matthew Studebaker on Fri Jan 05, 2024 5:34 pm

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paul fletcher wrote: A wonderful dramatic image, Matthew ! Perhaps seeing the paw on the right bear would add a little to the photograph, but that's just my opinion, and the image as it stands would certainly be considered by all viewers to be very special. ( Thank you for reviewing my recent Cooper's Hawk submission, for the Naturescapes Birds Gallery category).

Yeah I was wondering the same thing. Thanks very much for the feedback Paul!!!

Matthew Studebaker
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by Karl Egressy on Tue Jan 09, 2024 10:32 am

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As Dave put it very eloquently; "The most important person to satisfy is yourself if that makes sense."
However, I like the action image of these Bears very much myself.

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by bruco63 on Sun Mar 31, 2024 3:00 am

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Great interaction, terrific shot!

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