This composition/crop was very much an afterthought during post. I’m liking it and wonder what others think. Too much negative space ? Any feedback is welcome and appreciated.
(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Canon EOS Rebel, Canon EF 100-400 F/4.5 - 5.6 - 1/640 s , f/9, ISO 100
This is a pretty neat image and not surprising that you were experimenting a bit with it. The negative space at bottom does bug me tho. If you crop just under egret/heron then it gets to be a pretty blocky frame. I am not sure if you can go wider or not so the blocky crop may not be a good option either. Outside the box a bit might be a pano crop with just the egret/heron and the row of shore birds with the downside of losing the top birds. Perhaps keep dead space at bottom at about same distance as space between egret/heron and row of birds. As is it seems a bit much to me.
A really neat concept here, Marc. I like the egret as the focal point, but I think you’d get a bit more impact with a fair chunk taken off the bottom (maybe 2/3 of the way up to the egret). Part of that may just be my prejudice as I’ve never been a fan of tall, skinny images.
Thanks David for the thoughtful critique. I must have tried this a dozen different ways. Here’s the landscape version I liked best. Using the Lightroom spot removal tool, I also added another egret that was just outside of the crop.
Thanks Dennis. I went back and forth with the tall, skinny crop. Still, something I like about it. I posted a landscape version adding another egret that had been just outside the crop with the Lightroom spot removal tool
Hi Marc, I like the horizontal version best whether you add in the second egret or not. I think the row of shorebirds on top goes well with a horizontal comp and the egret(s) adds another level of interest to the image.
Hi Marc. The tall skinny certainly has some appeal, but it feels like it needs something in all that empty space. I really like the horizontal version.
Interesting discussion here. I think I prefer the original crop with something off the bottom to limit the amount of white space. The concept is great. Even a very high contrast image would be interesting with respect to the shapes.
Beautiful high key shot Marc, I prefer the horizontal. As for the original post I think it would work better cropping a bit off the top, taking off the top 5 birds and taking a bit off the bottom.
Great image @Marc_Brawer, love the high key contrast in the image. The vertical crop and negative space do not bother me but the birds at the top do. If it were my image I would probably crop 4x5 and remove the top row of birds. I’m seeing your vertical image now and do like that one as well. Well done on both, beautiful images either way.
Thanks all! I also showed the photo (original post) to some non-photographer friends who, like you, pretty consistently indicated they would like it better with less empty space at the bottom. I suspected it would not be to to the tastes of a lot of people and that I would be a bit of an outlier in that regard. Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions!
Hello, Marc, I think what makes it hard to like the vertical image is the size we have on our screens. Should you print it huge it’s probably awesome. Taking the limitations of online and hence on-screen display, I prefer the horizontal image you show for now 
… Anyway, it’s a style of photography I like very much ! Cheers, Hans
Hi Hans. You may be right in that the limited screen size may be a factor for some people. Thanks for the feedback!
