For two or three weeks I had noticed some raptors circling around over a nearby subdivision in north Carrollton, Texas. I knew they were raptors by their shape and flying manner but I only faintly guessed they were kites. It finally occurred to me I could take photos of them, since they seemed focused on Dudley Branch as an area to find food. I took some unfortunate BIF’s . Then I noticed there was a tree they liked to sit on at times. So I got set up for this photo and made positive ID on iNaturalist. In the corrected version I added sk
Specific Feedback Requested
Composition, editing considerations, etc.
Technical Details
Ancient NIkon D700 camera, Nikon 600mm FL VR etc lens, f5.6, 1/1000 sec at 320 ISO. Processed in Lightroom Classic.
The technical details all look fine. Sharp, well exposed.
I find the composition too centered left to right and too tight on the top. I think this would look better as a vertical. The challenge with a vertical is probably the branch ends on the left side. I like that they are there.
Yes, I see that I have flaunted the rule of thirds here. I’ve heard that it can be exciting to disobey the conventional wisdom sometimes. But I also, from habit, feel a bit of discomfort with the placement of the subject. There are other files of portraits in the vertical orientation I could use; however, I liked the very slight sense of something going on here with the opened beak, as if calling out. I also like the feeling of two diagonals going on, one the branch, and the other, though slight, the bird itself. I suppose for headroom I could easily extend the canvas and do a content-aware fill. Perhaps as a square it might work better. Maybe I’ll give that a go! Thanks for you rtime to critique! I did follow your recommendations and in the corrected version have added headroom and moved the subject closer to the thirds position. Again, much appreciated.
I think this version looks better. I didn’t say anything about the rule of thirds. I could care less about it. When a compositions works, it works and when it doesn’t, it doesn’t. If that happens to follow some compositional guidelines, great.
Here’s another version with a different take on the crop
