Cattle Egret

[Allen_Sparks]

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

At the Louisiana rookery one afternoon, there was sun hitting the rookery but in town there was a storm brewing. This made for in flight shots in sun with a cloudy background as seen in this shot.

Specific Feedback

The first image is a small in frame uncropped photo highlighting the sunny bird with nesting material against the cloudy backdrop. The second image is a tighter crop making the bird bigger in the frame.
Any preference between the two images?

Technical Details

Canon R7, 400mm f4 DO IS II, 1.4x extender III
ISO 400, f7.1, 1/3200s, hand held

[Dennis_Plank]

I prefer the tighter image in this case, Allen. All that sky, even with some nice clouds doesn’t add much and you have nice detail in the egret and it’s luggage, so you might as well use it.

[Diane_Miller]

Gorgeous light! I’ll take the tighter one, or go in even more. I love the wing down pose and the nesting material. I wondered about pulling out a bit more detail in the clouds and tried Nik CEP Tonal Contrast. It brought out more detail in the bird as well.

[David_Bostock]

Tighter for me too. Wonderful catch.