It's Hip to be Square  by mej2011

It's Hip to be Square

Or is it? This is another attempt at my "Get Pushed" challenge of Negative Space, given to me by @jehill1159 . I don't know, I feel like the more I try to understand the concept, the more confused I get.

And on a side note, why did NOBODY get my Bones reference yesterday? Surely I'm not the only 365 that watches the show?
@jehill1159
Here is a second attempt. I admit, I have no idea what I'm doing now.
March 26th, 2013  
I would've perhaps composed the shot so that there is less of the fence (?) and more of the sky visible. With the bird quite exaggeratedly in the lower left corner. That way it has more "space" in the direction of its gaze. But that's just me. :) Cute capture in any case. :)
March 26th, 2013  
@joa
Thanks for the suggestions. I kept the railing in because I liked his little claw on it. And there was no sky, he was right in line with my garage, which I was trying eliminate.
March 26th, 2013  
@mej2011 Oh, you'd definitely have to keep enough of the wood in that the claw is visible, I'd probably crop just below the little dark dots on the right. (Or then again, it might not work, hard to imagine it here.) And I can totally understand you trying to eliminate distractions, and if there was no sky to be used, this is a great compromise. It's not like you had an hour of composing time with the bird...
March 26th, 2013  
@joa
Sadly you're right, there wasn't much time. Maybe I'll try and re-crop this to see if it's saveable.
March 26th, 2013  
@mej2011 But when considering the very limited time you always have when working with wild animals of any sort, you did really well. :)
March 26th, 2013  
@joa
Thank you! That makes me feel better. I'm honestly happy with this shot, aside from the background looking overexposed (as I was happy with my Triple Negative shot). Now, I'm just trying to understand what the challenger wants.
March 26th, 2013  
@mej2011 Oh, I hope I didn't, at any point, make you feel like this was a "bad" shot in some way. It's a great capture and all my feedback is given with your challenge in mind. But perhaps your challenger will have more feedback to you. :)
March 26th, 2013  
@joa
No! Not at all! You're my new favorite, remember? I guess I just don't see things the way everyone else does, so it frustrates me that I can't grasp the concepts.
March 26th, 2013  
@mej2011 I thought you might've gotten over that by now. :D Hahah! And you know, not seeing things the way others do - THAT is the way to original art and expression! You can't create something unique unless you have a unique way of thinking about it.
March 26th, 2013  
@joa
Are you calling me fickle? lol. Thanks for the words of encouragement!
March 26th, 2013  
@mej2011 :D No, I'm calling myself forgettable. :D (Not terribly seriously, though.) You're very welcome, dearie. :)
March 26th, 2013  
@mej2011 I think you are doing a great job. I actually like this shot. It's all about learning new things. I have learned so many new things since I started the 365 journey. The ideas are dancing around in my head so much that sometimes I can't sleep. But capturing those ideas on my camera is a totaly different thing altogether. I say keep shooting. I think if you shoot with heart you can't go wrong.
Funny - I've been chasing a cardinal in my window for DAYS trying to get a shot - anyshot - before he flies away. You have capture a sweet bird IN FOCUS. I agree with Johanna on how you could crop this a little differently to show more of the negative space - maybe by splitting the wooden rail about half way. Not sure about this but someone who knows more about technique may say this would qualify for high key photography. Maybe for another challenge! LOL! I hope you haven't been discouraged by this challenge.
March 27th, 2013  
@jehill1159
Thanks so much for the positive feedback. I'm not discouraged, I just have very low patience and get frustrated when I don't learn things quickly. I will keep in mind the suggestions about the cropping and try again tomorrow. At least I'm on the right track, sort of. Oh, and I thought this looked kind of high key-ish too, but I don't know much about the concept either.
March 27th, 2013  
A little chairman! Nice birdie and a funny pic!
March 29th, 2013  
challenge and negative space aside, I LOVE this! Fave! The woodpeckers here are not that friendly, and very skittish! This is so cute!
March 30th, 2013  
@nanalisarocks
Thanks Lisa! I was actually inside behind a glass door when I shot this, as I do with the majority of my shots, so I'm not even sure if they notice me.
March 30th, 2013  
@mej2011 most of mine are from behind glass, but the woodpeckers and flickers are so hyper aware of any movement!
March 30th, 2013  
@nanalisarocks
I don't recall, do you have pets? I have two cats and a dog, so maybe they're just used to movement I don't see many flickers though, sadly.
March 30th, 2013  
yes, i have 4 cats but 3 are "geriatric" and the other has just 3 legs, so they're all pretty much indoor.
March 30th, 2013  
@nanalisarocks
Awwwwwwww! Poor kitties!
March 30th, 2013  
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.