ORIGINAL
REWORK CROP
REWORK WITHOUT LOON
Specific Feedback Requested
I really need some help with how best to handle this photograph. I really, really want a version with the loon to work. I’ve been looking at this image for the better part of a year, going back and forth on it but, I mean, the loon is why I took the picture in the first place. However, on completing post processing I had this feeling that the loon is too far from the far shore and so there is a competition between the wonderful forest background with the sweeping curve of mist and the dreamy loon passing in front. I wanted to forget about it and, you know – “you can’t orchestrate a loon – it is what it is.” But it kept gnawing at me and so I decided to do a couple of reworks - the first to an 8.5:11 aspect ratio cropping from the bottom and the second to a 5:7 crop without the loon. Like I say, “I want that loon!!” but I need some feedback. How do you all feel about it? Is there clearly a better version or maybe the whole thing is a failed experiment … it happens 
. In any case, I’d be most interested in your thoughts and feelings on this.
Kerry, the Loon is fine and does help the image. But being centered makes it a bit of a static element. Since you were able to remove the Loon in the third image, what if you simply moved it to the left? That would make it feel like it was swimming into the wonderful scene you have captured. I think it would give you that dynamic.
I agree with David’s idea of “orchestrating the loon”. You could even move it back, closer to the mist and far shore (which I think you wanted) as well as to the left. Let the mist obscure the “wake”. The scale might then look unrealistic, I don’t know, but worth a try. Even if you do nothing, I really prefer your Original to the later versions. For me the loon is a must.
I think the image tells a better story with the loon in it but there are a couple of things that I think could maybe make this better. As both @David_Bostock, and @Mike_Friel have mentioned, the loon is too central to the frame and makes it feel a little bit static. I agree with them that as easy as it is to remove the loon it would be as easy to just move the loon. Ideally, you’d want to move the loon deeper into the background of the scene and into or just in front of the fog but as Jim notes, it would not be scaled correctly and might look unrealistic but it’s worth a try. You’d have to include the wake because the bird is not tack sharp which indicates movement to me so not including the wake wouldn’t work. In the end, I really think this scene needs the loon and it would be a better image if the loon was relocated. Just my 2 cents worth. By the way, the atmospherics are amazing and the bending fog really catches the eye. There is a nice warm glow on the background trees as well but I think this scene benefits from having the loon in it.
I prefer the original but the one without the bird is good too. It’s just different. What about a vertical aspect ratio rather than a square? The bird is a bit fuzzy which doesn’t help.
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Without viewing the first 2 images, I would have liked your 3rd, and said: very nice scene. Having seen the loon, I miss the bird in the 3rd image.
I agree with the previous comments about the position of the loon in the center. Besides that, I prefer the 2nd image over the 1st. But @Igor_Doncov 's vertical version opens new opportunities. I like the vertical image as presented, but you can also shift the crop rectangle to reposition the loon in the frame.
As Igor also mentioned, the loon is a bit fuzzy, probably caused by the fog (or slow shutter speed?). I personally don’t like to fiddle too much with my images, but if you move the loon deeper into the frame where there is more fog, the fuzziness doesn’t hurt the image anymore. Maybe you need to decrease the size of the loon to keep the scale natural. I made a quick and dirty guess, based on Igor’s image, resizing the loon at 67%.
I like the mood and atmosphere of this image. It is a compelling image without the loon. I do like Igor’s suggestion for a vertical crop as it works better for my eye. If you went with a vertical crop you could position the loon so that it wasn’t centered. Also of note, it seems like the loon is a little blurred. If it were sharp I would say to leave it in as the centered position doesn’t distract too much and could be easily remedied with a slight crop (whether vertical or horizontal). But with the loon appearing to be blurred I would remove it.
Kerry,
Serendipity I say - of course the loon is why to captured this image! Yes, the atmosphere, rising misted, the light reflected on the water etc., are all beautiful - but without the loon, the scene is a bit static.
For me, even though this is not an avian image of a loon and there’s no expectation that the viewer sees detail (after all, it’s really a silhouette of a subject…) the fact that it’s a bit blurred is a distraction for me. No, the details aren’t important, but the oof draws attention to something that we don’t want to draw attention to.
Having said that, I prefer your first, original. I like the centered position of the loon. Any smidge further to the right and yes, it would be awkward given the “room to move” composition guideline. But because this isn’t a story about swimming loons or movement of the loon, I’m not enjoying this and expecting the loon to have more room - it’s a silhouette and adding a very nice dynamic to an otherwise static scene.
It’s a bummer - a great image with the loon… but being soft just makes it miss the mark, by a feather…
(now Han’s option of moving the loon further back and smaller… almost eliminates the sharpness issue for me)
Lon
It’s kind of strange felling, but after looking into the images, and read all the suggestions, for me the loon is what prevent the eye to look around and explore the beautiful scene. So , for me is without loon.
@David_Bostock , @Mike_Friel , @David_Haynes , @Igor_Doncov , @Han_Schutten , @Brian_Schrayer, @Lon_Overacker, @joaoquintela - First, I want to thank all of you for taking the time to offer your insights on this particular picture. Your feedback has been an enormous help in clarifying what this picture is about for me. I have been trying to make this picture for at least four or five years and I have made a dozen or more attempts in that time, none of which, including this one, have nailed it (or even come close, really). To begin, let me assure you all that I am capable of taking a picture of a loon in focus 
. Now that that is out of the way I’d like to share what I’m trying to do with this image. It isn’t meant to be a landscape or a wildlife photograph. It is meant to be archetypal. By that I mean, numinous – ripe with meaning, an apparition, vision, emanation, revelation, dream-like, an essence that appears in the form of a loon but is not that and more than that. In that sense it is not a loon but a totem, what indigenous cultures would call a power animal. For that reason, I’m not interested in having the loon on the one-third line as though it is going somewhere. Because it isn’t. Neither do I want it to be in focus, because nothing about it can seem to be clear. It is simply there, out of the darkness into the light and then, one might imagine … gone, back into the shadows. Now I’m not saying this picture succeeds, far from it, and I imagine I’ll be trying to take this picture from now until I can’t hold a camera anymore. I have posted another rework here where I’ve added the Orton Effect to the mid-tones. I think it pushes it in the right direction. I’ve also removed the tracking line so that the loon appears to be stationary.
I do also want to add a shout out to Igor @Igor_Doncov for his suggestion to try this image in portrait mode. I really liked how it worked and I plan to make a second version in portrait so that I can have them both. In a collection, which is always my intention, one aspect ratio may work better than another in relation to the other photographs in the collection, and it was very helpful to see that this image can work both ways.
Once again, thank you all, you’ve really helped me go deeper with what I’m trying to do with this, and I would say, in general with all my photography and it has helped me clarify my intention for future encounters.
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Thank you, Kerry, for your comprehensive explanation and thoughts about this image. I think that I understand what you mean. I wish that you once make the image that satisfies you and fulfills your expectation.
