This is nearly full frame, so any suggestions on cropping would be appreciated. Sigma 400 f5.6 APO, Sensia II 200. Exposure data not recorded.

-- Peter May (peter.may@stetson.edu), January 20, 1999

Answers

Peter,

The vertical stems seem to be a vital part of this shot. My suggestion would be to try cropping the top just below the intersecting "y" on the second (from the left) prominent stem, although some might like it left the way it is. I like the way the bird seems to be skulking about in the lower part of the frame. Good one!

-- Garry Schaefer (schaefer@pangea.ca), January 20, 1999.

i find the white, vertical stems very distracting and i would crop down to just below the start of the green ice plant like vegetation

-- richard mittleman (gon2foto@gte.net), January 20, 1999.

I also find the white stems to be a bit messy and distracting so I would crop them out. In fact, I like this photo much better cropped down fairly small around the bird.

-- Lanier Benkard (lanierb@leland.stanford.edu), January 20, 1999.

My first suggestion is to crop tight. Keep the reflection, crop all of the white stems and create a nice symmetrical shot. Second, crop enough off the top to place the birds body on the bottom "third" intersection. Crop the left, not the bottom, until you get rid of the small diagonal white bit on the bottom left but leave everything else. BTW, nice light, good detail and good exposure.

cheers

-- Bill (Bill.Wyman@utas.edu.au), January 20, 1999.

I don't know, Pete. It's nice to see the mangrove in the background for reference but cropping to isolate the heron more might make the image closer to what you intended. Either way, it's a great image. I'm surprised ISO 200 rendered the color so well.

-- Alex (grigg80@hotmail.com), January 23, 1999.

Don't change a thing. This is an uncommonly beautiful photograph of a relatively commonly photographed subject. The reflection is splendid, and the white stems draw the wandering eye right back into the photo. Maybe, *maybe* it would be interesting to see the lens opened up one more stop (if it was not already wide open), to throw the background slightly more out of focus. This is a minor quibble, and I'd have to see the variant to know if I liked it better.

You. nailed. it.

-- Alexey Merz (alexey@webcom.com), January 27, 1999.