Crab Orchard at dusk

[Hazel Grant]

Was out at our local Crab Orchard Wildlife Sanctuary at dusk yesterday. Not much wildlife around (the gees don't come in until next week) but found these gulls. The light seemed good for that time of day.
Nikon D7000. Lens 18-135 F3.5-5.6. 1/250. fll iso 200. I know the 200 may seem wrong, but anything larger didn't seem to catch the light right.

[Diane Miller]

Gorgeous light!! Not sure what you mean by "fill ISO"? But whatever you did, it certainly worked!

The dock is level but the horizon is off -- I'd straighten the horizon and let the dock go with the flow of perspective.

[Don Railton]

Beautiful Light Hazel, and a gorgeous time to be shooting. Image does need CW rotation IMHO...

DON

[Hazel Grant]

the fill is a typo. sorry I debated about that tilt....dock or horizon. I'll defer to the experts and make the change. thanks.

[Diane Miller]

Definitely a level horizon always wins -- unless it's a hillside, of course. If the receding perspective on the dock looks too strange, you can always do a horizontal perspective correction and have both level. Edit > Transform > Distort and pull the left corners up and down, or use the Lens Correction in PS or on the raw file.

[Hazel Grant]

great idea. thanks.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Hazel - Very nice light. What was your aperture? If possible it might have been nice to stop down a bit to get more of a sunburst. I agree on the rotation. Was it possible in the field to get clear of the foliage at the bottom of the frame or to at least avoid it intersecting the reflection on the left? Perhaps a lower pov.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Hazel, very nice light...I also would prefer to see an image without the foreground foliage, but not sure if it was possible. I agree on rotating as well. What I like most is the reflection of the gulls and the dock...would make a neat abstract with a longer focal length.

[Hazel Grant]

I think I got the horizon/dock angles finally straightened out. RE the foliage framing the bottom. No, I couldn't find a way to get out of that problem. I was standing on the road (actually, a causeway). From the edge of the road was a steep bank down to the lake. Very large greenery was there. Best I could do was try to find a break in that vegetation to shoot through. 1/250 f11 iso 200 probably needed to raise the iso. one of those spontaneous moments to catch them before they flew off, which they did shortly after the shot. appreciate all your comments

[Diane Miller]

Yes! How often do I wish for a really long pruning pole.