This lilac-breasted roller was just sitting on a branch alongside the road in the Serengeti, Tanzania, when we passed by. We backed up and pulled alongside and I slowly pulled out my Canon 400mm f/2.8L lens. This is the full-frame. I can't decide whether to leave as is or to crop some of the open space. Suggestions?

-- Albert Highe (ahighe@ix.netcom.com), September 14, 1999

Answers

A very nice shot, if it were mine I would crop very tightly, because the bird is the subject, the background is distracting and so are the twigs on which it is perched. Pat

-- pat j. krentz (krentz@cci-29palms.com), September 15, 1999.

I would say that this is more than a nice shot. It is a beautiful shot of a beautiful bird. Although the bird is clearly the subject, the soft multicolored background with some of the same colors that are in the bird adds alot to this photo rather than distracting from it. For that reason, I think I would leave it as is.

-- richard mittleman (gon2foto@gte.net), September 15, 1999.

Lest we mess with near perfection to try to obtain nearer perfection, I might shave off 10% off of the right edge. The roller's gaze to the right leads you to nothing really so it goes back to the roller, the main subject--so you really don't need to crop to direct your attention and the blank area to the right, even though it has no detail, does connote some type of wide open space which I like in the context of this photo.

-- wkato (wkato@aol.com), September 15, 1999.

I love these rollers (family coracias) and this one is a beauty. What I would like to see is a picture, I don't know the expression in english, where you turn your camera 90 degrees and get a higher picture. There would still be space to the right, which there should be because the bird is looking in that direction and the composition would improve. The eye would follow the twig to the bird. One detail in this picture and a reason not to crop is that the backgound in the same colours as the birds back and rump. Excellent! Don't crop it. Hakan

-- Hakan Liljenberg (coracias@hotmail.com), September 15, 1999.

Maybe crop a little off of the right but not much. What a beautiful bird. Nice shot.

-- rob dalrymple (robd13@erols.com), September 15, 1999.

I too think that the space on the right is needed to balance the shot. The only thing that bothers me at all is the twig in the foreground. Thanks for posting it.

-- Micheal F. Kelly (radiant@gci.net), September 15, 1999.

Albert, I'm with you on the cropping. I've spent quite a while trying to decide which I like best. The two I like best are about 1/4inch from the right most branch (twig) and tight one with the beak about 3/8inch from right edge. The soft background keeps my interest on the bird. Thanks.

-- Floyd White (n8iv2ca@juno.com), September 15, 1999.

Absolutely no cropping. The image has a very artistic composition and cropping will totally ruin it. Of course unless you want a technically correct image to be published in a dictionary. The colors and the composition of the background matches the bird and is beautiful. You should be very proud of this image as is.

-- Bahman Farzad (exposeit-right@spotmetering.com), September 15, 1999.

I love this kind of "wide open" backround blurr.

I would crop about 15% off the right, and 5% off the top and bottom. This shifts the position where the stick breaks through the border on the bottom to a more pronounced off center position without losing too much of this backround blurr.

Great shot. One of my favorite birds!!

Clive

-- Clive Culverwell (culverwellc@aurorabio.com), September 16, 1999.