Fish-Dish

Yes, that crop really gave the piece more impact, but you created a tension point by getting the eye to close to the edge of the frame, thus locking our eye there quite a bit. But you are thinking, move to the front of the class. Here is what I meant for the crop.

Or maybe in between my first thought and yours, like this.

For me the crops lose the aspect of the overall power of the eagle that the original gives.

I agree, i think this picture is much more powerful un-cropped. The looming strength of the eagle is much more evident in the first. The bird looks fierce! Excellent shot.

I guess everyone will hate this crop, but I'm trying to drive home the point that there is something interesting going on in this picture that is dwarfed by the impressive portrayal of the eagle. Obviously one wouldn't discard the original crop for this one - it's just an interesting interpretation that has been brought up.

Oops, I was playing around. This is the one I meant.

Sorry - I don't have any image-editing software here so this has been harder than I thought. Hopefully this version will show up on page.

I guess the crop / no crop issue depends on what we want the photo to say and how long we have for it to say it. The original instantly conveys the power of the bird while cropping (to various degrees!) sacrifices some of that in exchange for more rapidly bringing us to thinking about the plight of the fish. If the image was going to be seen for a short time or only once then we would have to make a choice. If it was hanging on the wall then its meaning might gradually evolve from one to the other for people who are familiar with it.

The first thing I noticed with this photo is not how it is currently cropped, but how it was originally framed in the viewfinder. A variation would have been to center more on the fish rather than on the eagle's head... frame to right and lower. -Greg-

I forgot to say I like your happy medium crop Michael. To me the original image is of an eagle eating a fish while the tighter crop also suggests a fish being torn apart by an eagle. An important difference in emphasis that the other more severe crops help make clear. I think this also helps move the image from the natural world to that of the personal and political because most of us are powerless more often than we are powerful. For example the fish becomes poor south-pacific nations being crushed by regional financial super-powers like Australia or whatever. That one came to mind when I was reading the newspaper this morning. I can think of other analogies - both good ones and bad ones - all over the place. The image doesn't have to have these meanings but I think it is interesting that it can if we want it to. The one we settle on depends on who we are and our mood for the day.

 

Well, that's probably enough thinking out loud for the moment!

Hi Harry!

 

I really admire this shot. How did you do that? To make such a good photo with 500mm lens you had to be few meters from the eagle! With such a wild and shy bird nothing easy. How did you manage to do that? Were you in a hide?

 

Thanks. Great shot.

 

Tomas

Harry, first of all I'm so happy to see your great talent recognized by this site.

This is an absolute wonder and I'm speechless viewing such a catch......

This eagle and his eye and his own catch just shooted at the moment he has the fish head in his beak and the body between his claws... this is simply an astonishment......

My wish just could be to admire without end.....

Toutes mes felicitations pour ce travail admirable.

Very good shot. I like the impact created. Good job.

Hello Harry. Congrats on a well deserved POW. You have outstanding photos in your porfolio.

 

Cheers. Darren

Cannot find the source of the shadow feature just behind the fish between the claws of the falcon in the blue background. Please help me in undertstanding that.

@Richard Watts. For the nice crop to emphasise the role of the fish, but imho a bit to tight on the eagle's eye.

@Jaques Henry. I'll agree with the suggestion of cropping to get more attention on the head of the eagle and the fish and at that point I do like the way Michael Seewald did crop the image the first time most, but imho, I also think in this case the image does lose overall strenght and composition by cropping of the top part.

@Julie Styles. I don't hate this crop and are pleased to see your personal style and interpretation of the scene/image.

@Tomas Telensky. The distance between me and the eagle was around 30 feet I think. Most of the eagles around Homer in Alaska are not that shy , atleast in winter time, and one can come up to some of them much closer sometimes. No hide was used for this shot.

@Ray Beers. Please get in touch with me before you are going to Alaska to take shots of the eagles, because I would like te be the one that will catch your camera and lens before it will drop on the ground and fall apart :)

Big hug and special thanks to Marielou Dhumez of who's images I do know for many years already and do admire very much.

Once afgain many thanks to all people who did take there time to look at and comment on this image and made some good an nice suggestions to improve the shot next time I am going to Alaska. Best regards from the Netherlands, Harry

"With such a wild and shy bird nothing easy. How did you manage to do that? Were you in a hide?"

 

For more info on photographing eagles in Homer, Alasks try reading this thread...

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00EO3K

 

There was an earlier one that went much further into people's viewpoints regarding how good this is for the eagles, but can't find it at the moment (may have been deleted).

.....For helping me out with the url Greg.

@ Ashish Gadre. If I am right, I did outline the part you do mean in your comment. It's the outher part of the eagle's tail. Best regards, Harry

One reason why some may like the idea of cropping (so I think) is that the original image is so large you have to scroll to view it all. The cropped versions are smaller and therefore you can view the entire scene at once. Therefore then, it *appears* somewhat more effective than it really is. When viewing your latest attachment Harry, you can see the entire image on the page without scrolling for the first time. This puts the capture in a better, more honest perspective, so I think. I believe the uncropped version is far stronger than any crops offered. The entire eagle, the blue framing above give the image something more appealing than the crops offer. However, before actually seeing this attached smaller version of the entire image, I was not quite as convinced as I am now. Also, by cropping at all (and especially with the very significant crops) you also begin focusing even more attention to the problem area, the talons and other half of dinner, where depth of field is limited, that portion of the image is a bit too soft and where things could be improved somewhat. Why then focus even more attention on this weaker area by cropping then?

 

I do agree with many others that Harry has some fabulous work. But when I also read how many cannot believe you are not professional, on the surface I might tend to see their point. However, when digging a little further and seeing even minor issues such as this limited DOF problem area here, I can see the difference (although somewhat minor) between what an experienced professional such as Moose Peterson, Andy Rouse or a few others might come up with verses what is seen here. A "professional" trying to get something published, or wishing to market his work, or looking to capture the best possible images available, would know how important it is to take advantage of such an opportunity as this. Is this a knock on Harry's work then? Not at all. Harry has clearly clarified that he is not a professonal. Though I believe some of your work IS of the highest quality. An established professional with time and experience on his side would know the value of getting some of these smaller issues taken care of. Something in time, I am sure Harry will also have under control. Is nice to see you accept critical suggestions too, rather than simply wanting the fluff variety. This IS the way to improve.

I agree with most of what you are saying Vincent (although the image fits fine on my screen) but I think you missed the point I was trying to make when I started the discussion of cropping. People were asking why one would ever crop an image as strong as this one. My answer was I thought one reason would be to make it say different things. Not terribly profound I guess but I thought it might take the discussion interesting places. I agree that the image posted is probably the strongest crop overall for the reasons that you point out. The alternative crops were being presented as independent perspectives of the same event that were interesting in their own right. In some regards this is the difficulty when a strong and uncontroversial image is used as the basis for a discussion - there is little to say except good shot. But as it is the only one we have to discuss I used it as a model for how you might treat other shots with similar subject matter. In particular in this case while the image is a very successful portrayal of the power of the bird, another story embedded within it is that of the fish being killed. I wanted to draw attention to that.

Yes I do agree with you Richard. Through cropping you actually have several different images that could be used in different ways. All this from just from one image. I often use this type of thinking anytime I shoot a location too. The goal is to find as many interesting angles and views as possible. When I get to the editing room, I am often surprised by what actually works the best. I am sure Harry also has many others similar to this, but still quite different. Of course I do believe of all the crops presented in this discussion, the one originally posted is still what I would consider the best. Just a personal opinion of course...

IMHO, every one of the proposed crops are inferior to the original image in one way or another.

o tutra, du krlho a tua foto ai man鮮 mor�???

poor mutilated fish..but wat a fantastic shot!