Painted Bunting - Need crop advice.

[Canon_Bob]

Hey all,

I shot this one yesterday, and frankly I'm having fits trying to figure out how best to present it. As a rule, I like to keep the eyes above the mid-point on the crop, but this one looks way out of balance when I do that. As another rule, you typically want to add space where the bird is "looking" to go....in this case, the lower left. this creates the same out-of balance look to it. I haven't even sharpened or run NR on this one yet. I may even knock the levels down a half stop or so. Just trying to figure out how to present this one right now. I'll be glad to re-post alternatives and the finished product once it's through. Right now, I'm just not sure where to go with it.

[AgingEyes]

It's a very nice shot, as usual, coming from you.

If I have to crop from what's shown, I'd crop some of the bottom off. But then it won't fit your rules. Another thing I could think of is to rotate your photo and add room - I've seen it done before - to where you want it to. It looks like it's a cropped already, is it not? I'm guessing the original may have room for some rotation.

[Canon_Bob]

Yes, I'm sorry - should've specified that! There is plenty of room all around on this. This was just the crop I liked best. Also, this one may be a candidate for "breaking" the rules. Here is a punched up version of the above image. I nudged the exposure down about 1/3 stop, bumped the contrast slightly, did a light sharpening pass, and then ran NR. I may look at that rotate concept (so long as I don't portray the bird in an unnatural position).

[paulnj]

I like this crop alot.

[mn shutterbug]

I would have cropped it the same way. However, I'm no professional, so you can take my advice with a grain of salt.

[mjs1973]

I like this crop, but I would have to see the full frame version to know if I would do anything different. Did you use flash on this? The lighting looks artificial to me but I still think it's a great shot.

[Jaedon]

I probably would've taken a completely different tack and cropped it more like a landscape panorama shot. Long and low. Giving the bird room on the sides but staying tight above and below. That way you can have the eyes above the mid line and space for the bird to travel to without having it seem out of balance.

[BFiredup]

This bird is gorgeous....love it

[Loupey]

Screw the conventions, just go with what looks (feels) right (balanced).

Personally I would lop off the left and bottom and add a little more on the right. Put that eye way down in the lower left.

[AgingEyes]

Screw the conventions, just go with what looks (feels) right (balanced).

I think that's basically Ansel Adam's attitude.