Get Your Heron Straight

This is the third in my series of posts about how I (sometimes) categorize my pictures.

Today’s is an artistic picture. It’s not the standard pose I look for in a bird. Certainly not a “reference plate.” In fact, it shows only a portion of the bird. Additionally, the bird is preening. Most preening or grooming pictures show the bird in an awkward pose. But this bird has focus and intent (in my mind).

Some things about this image.

It is the first of many pictures I took of this Great-blue Heron. Unlike a “desperation shot,” I crept down the ramp to the dock just far enough to get clear of branches, took a solid stance, carefully lined the camera up, and took a good number of shots. Of all those images, still think this one, the first, is the best.

Normally I crop my pictures to the Golden Ratio. I think it lends a nice balance to the images, and it ensures that all images in a post have the same dimensions. This makes grouped images in a matrix much more consistent. However, the more I looked at this image and attempted to crop it, the less happy I was. So I left this image uncropped. It is almost exactly what I saw through the viewfinder.

It’s not perfect. I could ask for a different background. I know what the background objects are and I would prefer to show birds in natural surroundings (despite the sign in yesterday’s Tree Swallow picture).

So that’s my very general take on the types of bird pictures I take. I’d love to hear how you think of your images.