Elkhorn Slough: Although my work emphasis is interior architecture and some commercial work, I do love to shoot for my own pleasure and always want to better my skill set. Here is a...

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

Although my work emphasis is interior architecture and some commercial work, I do love to shoot for my own pleasure and always want to better my skill set.

Here is a photo from my last visit to the Slough. It was 1 of 2 shots I took as we passed by. I like this shot but I find myself thinking sometimes it is too busy. So, have at it!

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

It is too busy, and it seems to be divided nicely into two groups. I would crop and use the group on the left by themselves. I would crop the shot and use the burn tool in Photoshop to tone down the harsh lighting in the faces. I would also use the group on the right featuring mr. stretch since he is making such a nice pose. Again you might want to burn the highlights slightly. Unfortunately the fellow in the dead center of the frame would not make either cut.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

I also saw it as 2 groups possibly. Although, I read the middle guy as part of the rightside group to make a circular composition.

I would most likely use Viveza to tone down the highlights.

Thanks

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Yes, too much going on with the subject appearing to be the bull but he's not the most attractive part of the photo.
I like that group of 4 in the bottom left corner.
Maybe you could work with them?

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

There is no clear subject in this photo. Sometimes it is better to focus on just one individual than the whole group. A shallow depth of field, with the focus on the middle seal ( I hope I have that right). The arching heads on the right are drawing your eye toward him. I do agree with ebrunner that the group on the left make a nice image in and of themselves. I think I would include our friend in the middle in that composition to give an odd number and more pleasing arrangement.
It is hard to really evaluate the focus and exposure on a thumbnail.

charryl Loc: New Mexico, USA

I think the "shot" is the lower left quadrant. Try cropping so that the seal facing the camera is the subject. I am looking at this on an iPad otherwise I would download and play with it. I'll check back later on the computer and try the crop. It is a fun picture, though. Worth trying various things.

Nightski

lighthouse wrote:

Yes, too much going on with the subject appearing to be the bull but he's not the most attractive part of the photo.
I like that group of 4 in the bottom left corner.
Maybe you could work with them?

This crop captures it. :thumbup: It's almost comical. I feel as though they are looking right at me.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

lighthouse wrote:

Yes, too much going on with the subject appearing to be the bull but he's not the most attractive part of the photo.
I like that group of 4 in the bottom left corner.
Maybe you could work with them?

I looked at that grouping also, so thanks for your help. I will go back to the original RAW and see if there is more left side info before any cropping.

Nightski, thanks for your work in setting up this all up.
Your energy is awesome!

Yes, they are looking at you... (I had them put their weight on their hind legs for posing ;) ) the one in the middle lineup kept swaying left and right, so I had to wait until he was lined up with the ones above and below.

MtnMan Loc: ID

jdubu wrote:

I looked at that grouping also, so thanks for your help. I will go back to the original RAW and see if there is more left side info before any cropping.

Nightski, thanks for your work in setting up this all up.
Your energy is awesome!

Maybe you can recover the highlights with the RAW image. I agree that the left crop is cool but also like the right one.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

MtnMan wrote:

Maybe you can recover the highlights with the RAW image. I agree that the left crop is cool but also like the right one.

Great, a two for one shot!

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

just to show you that we all see things differently, I like the whole bunch of them, with a sliver of the water eliminated and shadows/highlights adjusted. I like photos of big piles of animals like this and spent all morning yesterday shooting big piles of pelicans who had just arrived on their winter pass-through. Busy, yes, but nature can be messy! If I were going to crop I wouldn't leave out the start of the show, though. I'm attaching a crop of that gentleman proudly displaying his battle scars.

Nightski

I think the lesson that can be learned in this thread is that sometimes the whole big picture isn't nearly as interesting as a snippet of it. A good lesson for me. I'm always trying to ge the whole enchilada!

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

On one of the versions of Michael Freemans "The Photographers Eye" he has a shot on the front cover of a traditional fisherman in a river (I think). Maybe its just inside the book.
Inside the cover near the start of the book he takes that image and shows about 5 crops out of it, all great shots, some similar, some with totally different compositions.
It sums his book up perfectly.
In my opinion, one of the best 2 photography books that I have read.

Nightski wrote:

I think the lesson that can be learned in this thread is that sometimes the whole big picture isn't nearly as interesting as a snippet of it. A good lesson for me. I'm always trying to ge the whole enchilada!

treadwl Loc: South Florida

Lighthouse has a good crop for this shot. You ust have too much going on.

GC-FineArt Loc: WDC

I think whats bothersome about the original are the strong diagonals that tend to lead the eye up to the empty water (and, essentially, out of the picture) -- #1 below -- so one solution might be to do some cropping and selective blurring to keep the viewers attention -- #2. (Note, #2 preserves the dimensions of the original shot.)

Thats my 2¢ at least :)