That's Mr. Cooper to you! . . . and re-post

Taken on an overcast day with little light.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

Any

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Any.

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

Canon 7DII; Sigma 150-600 at 600 mm. 1/250; f6.3; ISO 500

I have yet to photograph one of these guys, so lucky you! On my screen, the image appears dark overall, so it could maybe use some brightening. I would like to see more room on the right and less on the left to make him feel less centered. The details look great, and it’s nice to have a catch light in both eyes!

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Allen: A pretty nice look at the Coopers. I think the overall comp and position of the bird in the frame is fine. It does feel like the bird is a bit on the dark side. My biggest wish for this image is that the background line from the light area to the dark area didn’t intersect the bird. I’m always on the lookout for unwanted merges and strive to eliminate them if possible. For this image a lower angle would have changed the position of the merge. Don’t know if that was possible here, but tossing out the option for the next opportunity.

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A very nice shot of the Cooper’s, Allen. I rarely get a chance at an adult for some reason. I agree with Jenaya and Keith that it looks just a bit dark, though I suspect it was a dull day. I also agree with Keith about the position of the dark area in the background. I’m not sure whether it would be better with a higher or lower angle, but either all water or bringing the darker area down below the bird’s feet would be nice. I know that can be tough, particularly if you’re shooting from a car or something.

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Thanks for commenting @Jenaya_Launstein, @Keith_Bauer, and @Dennis_Plank. I agree about the darkness and I did add some brightness to the hawk in PS. I had another version where the hawk was brighter, but it didn’t look natural to me. Yes, the hawk is centered, but compositionally I liked the three grass stalks-adding canvas to the right might work and I’ll give it a try. Excellent point about the intersecting background and something for me to keep in mind, but in this case I didn’t have much choice as I was shooting from my car-not sure I could have gotten a different angle.

Great image Allan! I really like the “look” and it sums up your title! I am wondering if a more vertical orientation to remove some of the grass stalks on the left and add a bit more room above the hawks head might look good? Or just a tighter crop with less on the left side of the image?

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I’ve re-worked this a bit, brightening the image and adding some canvas to the right to de-center the hawk and give it more room to look into. I played around with trying to move the hawk or background to remove the line through the hawk, but nothing looked good. I could remove the background entirely, but that leaves some ambiguity as to what the light stuff is-water or sky. I did blur the background some, maybe that helps. Thanks, @Keith_Flood for your comments. No question it is personal taste, but I liked the grass stalks and I guess I saw this as more than just the hawk, but you have a good point that a more vertical composition would work.

Hello, Allen, nice job on the repost, to me more appealing than the original (even). Great species to have like this. In the repost the fact that the BG intersects with the bird somehow is much less an issue than in the vertical one (at least for me). Like it a lot ! Cheers, Hans

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Good for you. We get a few Coopers around here but not often and never in the open. So it is nice to see a good clean photo of one.
Repost does look better. I also like the few grass stocks especially the two in focus. I would have thought a vertical would work but it does seem a bit cramped for me.

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I do like the repost, Allen. Nice job on the changes.

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Hi Allen,

Repost looks better. It would have been nice to have either all or dark or light BG, but I think that you did quite well wiuth what nature gave you. Well done…Jim

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I am coming in late on this, I have been out of state and missed getting on here for the most part. I do like the repost a lot. I too haven’t had an opportunity to photograph one of these. Very nice, Allen.

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