Does this crop work?

Cut off a wing tip, but I like the shot, so I thought I would try a cropped version

IMAGE LINK: http://peregrineflier.​smugmug.com …579403&k=5GLtg8​S&lb=1&s=A

hmmm..something doesnt seem quite right about it.....nice pic..can you get the entire wing span in?

-1 tip looks bad minus both looks horrible

i like it, great intense look from the bird and my eye is attracted to it's eyes, not it's wings

I like it, too. At first, it doesn't feel quite right. But it really focuses on the face and body of the eagle.

Thinking outside the box is always alright in my book!

beanfriend wrote in post #15148223
I like it, too. At first, it doesn't feel quite right. But it really focuses on the face and body of the eagle.

Thinking outside the box is always alright in my book!

I'm with you, in concept. The facial expressions get lost on a bird this large in flight because of the massive wingspan.

Having said that, I might even go about half way down the wings tighter. Their is enough wing to make me wonder where the wings are. I know you get what you get when shooting int the wild and I try to evaluate the photo based on the opportunity that you got, rather than the opportunity that you could have had. However, this type of shot works better with a slightly off to the side angle, partly hiding one wing behind its body.

With that in mind, maybe moving the eyes off center will create that type of effect. (of course maybe not, but its worth a look)

Doesnt bother me, good eye contact with the subject, it works

That crop works fine, Tom. When you are close enough to be able to crop that tight, you get a lot of impact from its eyes. I know where the wings are

The crop looks a bit square to me. Maybe if you lengthened the crop a bit..

The crop works for me! I agree that in the effort to include the whole eagle, the intense look in the eyes are sometimes lost, so cropping is not a bad idea

I like the crop as well. The only thing I would do is balance it out by lifting the shadows a tad (to bring out the physical left eye) if possible and desired.

It really looks odd to me. I want to look at the head, eyes and body but the clipped wings are just too obvious.

It's a powerful shot. I feel like a rodent close to soiling myself before I become dinner. What a gorgeous bird.

A bit less square might help but it's hard for me to say.

Think I'm w/ Boufa & Nature Nut here-maybe crop to just outboard of the tailfeather spread and lighten up the left side of the head. Would also put head off-center. My thoughts.

I don't think it does. I'm an illustrator by trade, and one of the many rules I have is when a body is in motion, it's a really bad idea to crop extremities. Reason being, is it totally kills the illusion of motion. If I were to draw someone running and cropped them at the angles, it just doesn't work. It grounds the image. Same thing applies to photography.