3 images from 70-300L on 70D

Jonathan Brady wrote:

RogerZoul wrote:

Believe it or not, the shot of the Grey Crowned Crane was my favorite from the day. I think many people would immediately trash this picture because of the shadows from the palm fronds, but for me, it's what makes the image. It tells a story.

I guess I'm the only one who is not a fan of the shadows on the face. Whether I trashed that shot or not would depend on what other shots I had. If I had no other decent shot, I'd keep it, but I'd rather not have the shadows over the face. I'm not sure i get the story it tells.

Foliage provides any number of benefits to animals. Pick any of them, and there's your narrative. The benefit is up to the viewer, as is the story. Having the animal out in the open with a blown out background (ie, no context) is merely a photo of an animal. More "documentation" than story.

That said, I'm heavily entrenched in documenting life when it comes to photography and I'm striving more towards story telling. So perhaps I'm reaching?

I can envision a shot very similar to this one in which the bird is in its environment and also in shadow, but with the face not. Sort of a pee-a-boo type shot. It would tell a very similar "story."  You don't need the animal totally out in the open with a blown out background.  I think you are only reaching when you can't envision the alternative shot being totally different than what you have shown here.