Great Blue Heron -- Which is Better?

Yesterday this GBH posed for me for several minutes while coots and moorhens swam behind him. I got shots with and without the traffic and I can't decide which is the better composition. Which do you prefer? EXIF data is embedded.

#1 - With traffic

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For me ... I like # 2 better . To me the other birds acts as a distractor from the main subject.

Most definately, I would go with #2...the GBH is your main focus.

I agree with the others that the #2 is the best shot. However, there are two aspects of this situation to which I would like to draw your attention. The extra traffic in the background adds to the picture, in my opinion, because it gives the picture depth, as well as adding to the interest. I don't see the extra bird as a distraction or as a detraction, I see it as complementing the primary subject. Furthermore, in that context, I would prefer it to be less out-of-focus.

I also find it a great plus that you kept some ground foundation in the picture to give him a place to stand.

Congratulations!

Definitely #2. The coot in #1 leads the eye back and forth from the herons head in my opinion.

#2- no traffic. Beautiful capture of a magnificient bird. I like your composition.

Thanks everyone. I think Bob knows exactly what I was seeing when I was trying to compose the shot. The GBH was absolutely motionless while the coots and moorhens moved about in the background. With the narrow DoF like I have here, it's a better pic without the traffic; however, if I would have taken a few shots stopped down a bit then the pic would have been about wildlife in a pond. It really was a beautiful scene and I should have tried to capture both images.

Like #2 better but both are nice!

Dan

Good job directing traffic! The second image is the winner,. and wow,. what a great shot!

There is something about the color of a GBH that just goes well with the water. I think your idea in #1 is good and creative and would have worked if the coot were lower in the frame, not so near the heron's head, where it is distracting.

All ducks to the right, move to the left.
All ducks to the left, move to the right.
All ducks amidships, stand by to direct traffic.

Bob - That's exactly the scene I was watching in frustration as I was trying to get a clear shot without the ducks in the background. Are you sure you weren't standing beside me? Heck, I know you weren't because you would have suggested that I widen the DoF and get the coots and moorhens in the background too. BTW, I really appreciate your earlier critique. When I got home and downloaded the images I could still see what I saw at the pond in my mind's eye -- I just couldn't figure out why it looked better there than on my monitor. You told me the reason. Thanks for noting that the GBH was standing on flora too. I was excited to see that -- all too often they're standing in the water when I see them.

Post should have been a poll. Without traffic.

I like 1 best I regularly try to get multi specie shots. Just enough there to tell it's a coot.
Sam

If you hadn't posted #2, I'd have given you a "nice capture" response to #1. Seeing the clone job in #2, however, opens up an area of PSing that has always kinda rankled me. I'd prefer to see a totally natural scene, be it with stray birds in the background, or an out of focus branch in the foreground, because that's just what it is ... nature ... a natural shot. On another site where we post our photos, several other photographers have made comments about our bird pictures along the lines of "I would have cloned out the branches" or cloned out other elements. Well, I wouldn't ... that's just the way I like them. It would be great if all birds posed on a solitary branch with marvellous, complementary background but, hey, that's nature. If a another species gets in the picture, take the picture. Whether you leave it in or not, is totally up to you. For me, I'm happy to let nature be natural.
Apologies for the rant ... nothing personal ... I really do like both pictures ... and envy that you can capture these birds all winter.

cheers,
jim