Fly me to the moon

[RSL]

-

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Russ, we all know too well what you think of cropping, but wouldn't a vertical crop, perhaps even a panoramic vertical crop, make more sense here?

Well seen and captured otherwise.

[RSL]

You're right, Slobodan, and when I printed it I gritted my teeth, held a cross in front of the cropping demon, and did that. Here's the result.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Good image, Russ, but you seem to have cropped out the H. of M. 

Eric

[Jeremy Roussak]

You're right, Slobodan, and when I printed it I gritted my teeth, held a cross in front of the cropping demon, and did that. Here's the result.

Hugely improved. Worth the dental damage.

Jeremy

[Rob C]

Nope, Russ, I prefer the original cut. There's no sense of space in the tall version.

Gimme a buck and I'll give you back ninety-eight cents.

Rob C

[armand]

Very nice. I think some crop would be beneficial but not as much as you did, more like a square format. This shot remotely reminds me of one that I took last year.

[Rob C]

Russ, you were right all along: cropping usually sucks!

Rob C

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Russ, you were right all along: cropping usually sucks!

Rob C

Much as I hate to agree with an ornery old geezer like Rob C, I have to admit that the cr*pped version feels cramped. I'd go back to the original (and get your teeth repaired).

Eric (another ornery old geezer)

[RSL]

Well, the first one is the real one. I was just lucky to get it at all. But as I heard Cartier-Bresson say in an interview late in his life, "It's always luck." I still haven't decided which I like better.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

You're right, Slobodan, and when I printed it I gritted my teeth, held a cross in front of the cropping demon, and did that. Here's the result.

Well, given the usual and expected disagreement about cropping, all I can say is that you can at least market this cropped shot for a magazine cover

[degrub]

What about an off center placement of the moon and TVs - keep the vast emptiness on one side and draw the eye ?

Frank

[RSL]

Well, given the usual and expected disagreement about cropping, all I can say is that you can at least market this cropped shot for a magazine cover

I suppose I could try that, Slobodan, but I see one problem with the picture. It's no fake, though, shades of Ansel Adams and "Moonlight Over Hernandez," in the original file the moon is a lot fainter and the sky less intense than it is in the final version. I had my 70-300mm racked all the way out to 300 and I was tracking one of the two hawks. I just happened to trip the shutter as the birds flew past the moon. But the problem is that with no other clue to its location -- some treetops, for instance -- somebody's going to jump to the conclusion that I made this picture in Photoshop as a composite. It's not an argument I want to fight against. I'd rather spend the time shooting more pictures.