This was the final version I processed yesterday of this image. I’ll post the initial version as well and I’d like to know your preference. To my eye, the tuft of branches entering the bottom that I ended up removing drew the eye and interrupted the flow of the image.
Any pertinent technical details:
7D Mark II, Sigma 150-600 C @ 600 mm, tripod with ball head and Sidekick, f/8, 1/1250, iso 1000, aperture priority, pattern metering, -2/3 EV. Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped to 12.7 MP. Taken at Salmon Lake north of Nome, AK at 8:30 am on June 10th.
For a moment there I thought you took this near your home and I was rather jealous. But then again, I wish I had known about the Nome trip. This is a very pleasing image with respect to color, detail, and comp. I wish the bird was a little larger and I think with a different crop, you could do that and still get the habitat feel of the willows. I am ok with the version you posted but after enlarging the image on the NPN lightbox, I thought it deserved to be a little larger.
What a great pose you captured on the bird Dennis, love the lighting and the colors. I do like it more without the bit of vegetation at the bottom. I agree with David and think you could crop a bit from the left here.
I like your first image the best. I would have also removed the parts you did from the original. The crop, although bringing the bird closer, leaves just 2 main elements which has me bouncing back and forth between them. Nice sharp image of a beautiful bird.
