Composition & PP work

[Eric Patdu]

Hi Sir Romy,

I posted this photo on another forum and got differing opinions on how I should have cropped the photo. Some say that I should have cropped the reflection as it is not a strong one while others like it as it is.

I would love to know how you would have cropped this photo if this were yours.

I also would like to know your comments on the PP work I have done.

Gull on Ice
Shooting Info: Canon XSi + EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec, ISO 200, -0.7 exposure compensation, hand held


Original image uncropped and unprocessed. No PP done except converted in Photoshop from RAW to JPEG using defaults of ACR and resized to 1024x683 (maximum for a free Flickr account).




Processed, cropped image (originally cropped and posted at 1200x800 but Flickr converted to 1024x683 )

[Romy Ocon]

The cropping looks good to me, Eric.... I'd have cropped similarly. Colors and contrast also look fine. For my taste, the sharpening is a tad overdone, as haloes can be seen in the borders of light and dark areas near the head.

[Eric Patdu]

Thank you very much Sir Romy! I knew I did the cropping right, the Romy Ocon way.

I have to agree with you on the sharpening. I tend to be overzealous in bringing out the details albeit, in a more un-natural way. I will have to learn to control my sharpening.

Again, thank you Sir Romy for the critique.