Shot of the Month – November 2023

What can I say, some days you just gotta mix it up a little….

In this unorthodox composition we have a Northern Hawk Owl peering up from the corner.  This image makes me smile each time I see it — hopefully it brought a grin to your face also.

In a previous post (Center of Attention) I talked about the “rules” of composition.  Well, let’s call them guidelines.  Suggestions perhaps.  And I usually do follow the recommended “rule of thirds” for most of my images.

But not always:

In the first image I like how the owl seems to be peering in, as if engaging me – “Hellllooo, Mr. photographer.  Are you looking for meeee?”

In the second image it seems that I caught this Atlantic Puffin as he was just on his way out.  Makes me ponder, “Where is he going”?  This second image is really breaking the rules as you normally want your subject to be looking into the image — with the owl we at least have the subject making eye contact with us.

But with the puffin, he is looking out, looking outside of the space of the image.  This creates all that negative space behind him which is normally verboten.  But given the space is a deep black, it creates a powerful contrast to the dramatic lighting and coloring of the puffin.  I think it works and the emptiness actually has a presence that is compelling for the image.  What is going on back there?  Why did he leave it behind?

It’s also recommended to not cut off part of your subject…

I would like to say that I made an artistic decision here to purposely cut off the Bald Eagle’s wing but in this case I was just having a hard time keeping up with the eagle as he suddenly slowed down to begin banking back in the opposite direction from where he was flying.  But when editing the image I leaned into my mistake and cropped the image even more to create a compelling image.  Our eye is drawn to the upper edge of the photo where the wing leaves the image.  From there our eye will tend to naturally follow the wing down until BAM, a close-up view of that stunningly beautiful and menacing face.  That beak is terrifying.

Bottom line, try different approaches and find the angle or view that works for the situation at hand.  As a famous artist once said:

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

― Pablo Picasso

Until next month….michael

Nikon D200, Nikon 200-400mm (@360mm), f/4, 1/2000 sec, ISO 400, +1.0 EV