Charlestown Marsh

Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction

Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.

Questions to guide your feedback

Interested in mood and emotion
Thanks
Steve

Other Information

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Image Description

Working on a wetlands project for swamps and marshes.
My task is to find a drone that will not disturb the birds and wildlife.
This was taken with a very small light drone I would call a toy. The camera is the size of my thumb.
I can get closer with the drone than I can in a canoe, without disturbing the animals or changing their behavior.

Specific Feedback

Emotional
Thoughts on using a drone with wildlife as long as it does not bother them?

Hey Steve, nice to see you posting again.

This seems tranquil at first, but then it has implied energy and activity all through the scene. As if things could get very busy, very quickly. I can see a more panoramic crop working well here. The very top and bottom sections don’t add much IMO.

On the surface, this is a pretty cool image. I especially like the low band of clouds and the line of cormorants. Viewing close though shows a very blurry photo, as if a painting/watercolor style has been applied. Maybe you did or maybe it’s just the fact that you say you used a “toy camera”.

I’ve been tempted by drone photography before, but have hesitated because of the increased restrictions on when and where you can fly one and that I don’t know if I want to add any more stuff to my already heavy bag. Ethically I think there are two sides to this; most animals or birds will be oblivious to a drone if flown respectfully, but many will engage with it and risk potential injury or further confusion about their environment due to a strange object they didn’t evolve to deal with.