Raven in flight composition question

[photog1107]

Shot this yesterday while sitting in my backyard trying to challenge myself with wild bird shots. (They ARE a challenge, btw!)



I pushed this to a high contrast b/w to accentuate the dramatic mood of the bird and sky. My question is whether to keep the busy evergreen in the frame... When I crop it out, it seems to lose a lot of impact. But on the other hand, I worry it's too distracting. Thoughts?

f/5.6, 1/6400, ISO 400, 300 mm

[Doug Sundseth]

I like the B&W conversion you've done. It works well with the subject to form a slightly surrealistic composition.

I also like the Y-shaped primary branch here. I think it works well with the bird.

But I don't think the other branches at the bottom of the photo are helping you much. Unfortunately, I don't know of an easy way to crop out the bad bits of overlapping branches. You might be able to simplify the edges of the compostion by cloning without too much pain, though.

[John Hendry]

[QUOTE=Doug Sundseth;1308522]I like the B&W conversion you've done. It works well with the subject to form a slightly surrealistic composition.

I also like the Y-shaped primary branch here. I think it works well with the bird.

think this Yip there a better image here will improve it try some coser crops and see how they work.

all the best

[SwtHrt88]

I really like this. Like others have said, the B&W conversion is great; it works incredibly well with this photo. I find the branches below to be a bit distracting...but no suggestions come to mind. I think a closer crop would take away a vital element of this photo which, in my opinion, is the space and that great dynamic sky/background you have there

[photog1107]

Thanks for the feedback on the conversion and overall image. I appreciate the points regarding the messy corners, and hadn't thought of trying to clone. So, I did attempt it, but after spending a bit of time on it, determine it just created too much weirdness with the lower left part of the tree, and left too many artifacts, so it was better left alone.

However, I came up with another alternative to removing the messy area. Further comments?



Thanks!

[crockny]

I'm not fond of the vignetting on the second one -- I really like the first picture, it creates a mood. Just cloning out a few of the distracting lower branches left and right would probably improve it a great deal.

[Augphoto]

I disagree with the previous post. The second photo accentuates your subject much more while creating more tension and drama. It is much better.

Just my humble opinion, however.