How would you crop this shot?

[tduell]

Hello All,
I know I have a 'tin eye' when it comes to composition, I have had comments on the way I have cropped some of my images of birds that I have posted.
I shot this hover-fly the other day, and it is probably more luck than anything else that I managed to catch him/her in flight/hover mode. As you may have noticed, they seem to have the ability to instantly 'tele-port' themselves to another location...far away.
I have had few attempts at cropping this shot so the hover fly is the feature, but none look good.
I would appreciate suggestions from those of you who don't suffer from the 'tin eye' syndrome...or don't think you do, as to how this shot should be cropped.

IMGP0832_01.jpg

Cheers,
Terry

[ameerat42]

Terry.

Well, from a Zinc-eyed person... I'd (roughly) a 5:4 crop of "Bee plus 3 nearest flowers", cutting thru and later cloning out the
lowest BG flower (with curled petals).

An alternative - perhaps Manganese - view would be: a (vertical) 4:5 crop of "Bee plus two main flowers below it", then eliminating
pieces of the open flower on the right and the same curly-petal one as before.

Heck, but you'd wanna fix those tones

[tduell]

Terry.

Well, from a Zinc-eyed person... I'd (roughly) a 5:4 crop of "Bee plus 3 nearest flowers", cutting thru and later cloning out the
lowest BG flower (with curled petals).

An alternative - perhaps Manganese - view would be: a (vertical) 4:5 crop of "Bee plus two main flowers below it", then eliminating
pieces of the open flower on the right and the same curly-petal one as before.

OK, I sort of get the picture, although my current policy is no cloning-out/removal. That policy may change.

Heck, but you'd wanna fix those tones

Now that statement does require a bit more explanation.
I can only assume you are seeing close to what I'm seeing, so I went and had another look at the subject, and then back to the image. I don't reckon there is much difference, although a side-by-side comparison may show that to be untrue.
I'm not inclined to fiddle with tones etc to make a photo look different to what I think I was photographing, but I'm keen to understand why you think the tones need fixing.

Cheers,
Terry

[ameerat42]

T. The WHITES are very BRIGHT

[tduell]

T. The WHITES are very BRIGHT

Aaah...OK, that explains it, you mean like your pearly whites? Thanks for the explanation.
That clocks up with a couple of comments I have had about one or two of my birdies...that they looked very bright.
I have an aversion to monitors being set too bright, maybe I have mine set too low.
Very bright would indicate that the whites, or lighter colours, were blown, is that correct?
Darktable isn't picking any of the whites in this image as blown, but maybe the settings need tweeking.
I'll do some homework to see if I can understand what's happening here.

Cheers,
Terry

[ameerat42]

For me some of the whites are blown - at least in this 8-bit image. I can't recover anything where (esp.) the two main flowers
overlap, and here and there on some other petals.

[tduell]

For me some of the whites are blown - at least in this 8-bit image. I can't recover anything where (esp.) the two main flowers
overlap, and here and there on some other petals.

OK. Thanks.

Cheers,
Terry

[Mark L]

If the hover-fly is the point of interest then crop closer.
Just a quick thought,

IMGP0832_01.jpg

[tduell]

If the hover-fly is the point of interest then crop closer.
Just a quick thought,

That doesn't look too bad.
Thanks for showing me your thoughts on a crop.

Cheers,
Terry