Taken in Dalkey yesterday morning. What I’m wondering is, should I have kept the boat in focus? I intentionaly used a shallow depth of field but not sure If I should have.
You were definitely right to keep the boat out of focus. I think though i would eliminate the boat altogether. You have set the scene already by having the sea in the background and i think the boat is more a distraction more than anything. Love the crop and composition :) Well done.
I quite like what the bird is sitting on and its position within the photograph, ie on the left.
I think that it could be improved by the gull looking into the photograph and perhaps waiting
for the boat to move. That being said the boat kind of gives it some context so its kind of ok
being there.
Is the focus on the birds head or wing ? Hard to make out for sure.
I think Ali’s edit is good. The boat was a little distracting, kinda like you know something is there but not sure what it is. Now, Mark’s comment on the bird looking into or across the picture is also very good, I wouldn’t have thought of that, but it does make sence. Maybe crop out some of the right-hand side of the photo. I love the slight red light on the bird’s feathers . It has the makings of a good photo though.
Ali, I’m going to run home and see if I can replicate what you did i.e. removing the boat. No idea how to do it so should be an interesting learning experience.
Mark, the focus was on the bird?s wing mainly because it was a bigger target, lol. I also like your suggestion of the bird looking across the pic but he took off before I could get another shot.