Birds Currawong in the forest

Which composition do you like better - the original showing the full context or the widescreen/cropped which brings the focus to the bird?
 

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I like the first better, as it brings more context to the scene. I also think the wide format doesn't fit the subject well.

That was my struggle. The 2nd one really brought the focus on to the bird which was what I wanted to do. I'm also not thinking conventional photography, but rather, filmmaking widescreen aspect ratio.

What could change about this photo that would make it work in wide screen?
 
That was my struggle. The 2nd one really brought the focus on to the bird which was what I wanted to do. I'm also not thinking conventional photography, but rather, filmmaking widescreen aspect ratio.

What could change about this photo that would make it work in wide screen?
Not really sure . . . it's just that the first one felt more complete to me, if that makes sense.
 
What could change about this photo that would make it work in wide screen?
If the composition had the bird towards the bottom of the frame with open space above it. Or a composition which shows the ground like the first version. That would make it a little more cinematic which works for that aspect ratio.
 
If the composition had the bird towards the bottom of the frame with open space above it. Or a composition which shows the ground like the first version. That would make it a little more cinematic which works for that aspect ratio.

The ground seems to be the aspect that ... grounds ... the photo, it seems.

Here are the other shots I took:
2021-05-15_09-39-52.jpg
2021-05-15_09-39-41.jpg
 
I'm a big fan of panoramic / widescreen aspect ratios, and an even bigger fan of not looking for a forced "interesting foreground object to lead the eye into the frame" as so many composition tutorials implore you to do; if there's nothing truly interesting in the foreground (or background ir elsewhere in the frame), just crop to put the focus on the subject.

Having said that,
1) the bird is large and well lit enough in the uncropped frame to still capture the attention;
2) the ground adds texture which adds to the sense of place; and
3) the ground also adds visual balance to the shot, which is missing a bit in the cropped shot, perhaps due to the large area of deep shadows (on the right hand side) pulling the visual weight out of balance. The uncropped shot has a streak of light over the ground on the right hand side, alleviating that imbalance.
 
Hard to say, both photographies works, but the weight of what is expressed in the scene is immensely different. I tend towards nr 2, due to the relative isolation of the bird, but both works fine for me. :)
 
Number 2 is not a "traditional" aspect ratio but I think it works better.

Back when you were forced to print at various sizes from the print shop it made sense to conform to various sizes. But now with internet sharing, who cares. I still try and somewhat fit inside the traditional aspect ratios but am not opposed to cropping for an effect.
 
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