Pretty Cold

[William Dickson]

Canon 5D Mk3
f/4 500mm with 1.4
f/7.1
1/800
ISO 1600

I couldn't resist capturing this Black Headed Gull perched on the frosty grass, early Sunday morning on my way to my usual 'perch' at the lochside :S3:

Will

[Karl Egressy]

I like the mood of this image as well as the low shooting angle, Will

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Will, lovely low angle here, and the soft light has brought out the whites nicely. Comp wise, I would move him over to the right a touch more, and maybe some selective sharpening will make him pop a little more.

This would suit next month's theme nicely. :w3

[Marina Scarr]

Your low angle really worked well here. Nice pose. I would agree to move the bird a tad to the right. My eye is telling me you may wish to brighten up your whites a bit. This bird could use a bit more pop.

[Grace Scalzo]

I agree with the above compositional and processing suggestions. It has a moody, solitary feeling to it, and definately worth a rework.

[David Cowling]

Nice one Will. The low POV and frosted grass work really well. Nice head turn and lovely feather detail. You may be able to squeeze a little more brightness out but you need to be careful not to blow the whites. I personally like it as it is but would try to brighten the eye a touch.

[keith mitchell]

Think that you have captured the conditions and atmosphere very well William(tec bits well covered) , a sucker for this type of shot, like it a lot.

Keith.

[William Dickson]

Thanks for the comments and advice, much appreciated. :S3: I didn't really want the bird to 'pop' too much, as it was a misty morning. Here is a repost with the above suggestions.

157712

[Stu Bowie]

Great repost Will - Well done.

[Marina Scarr]

The RP looks awesome and you have maintained the mood of your image!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yep, the repost gives those whites the punch they needed. Pretty neat scene with the frosted grasses.

[Mike Poole]

Nice take on an often neglected subject - I always appreciate it when the more mundane species are used. If I give a gull shot a second look it tells me there must be something interesting about the frame. Here it's the low angle and the foreground interest that does it. RP is a definite improvement.

Mike

[Jonathan Ashton]

I am torn I like both images, I think the quality looks quite a bit higher in the original, I would suggest a crop about half way between the two.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the low angle, frosty grass, pose and composition in the repost. Very well done Will!

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Great one, William. The repost is spot on and the frosty grass works beautifully with the gull. Nice change in the crop.



Geoffrey

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the comments and advice, much appreciated. :S3: I didn't really want the bird to 'pop' too much, as it was a misty morning. Here is a repost with the above suggestions.



I will probably get in trouble for my repost but I made a few other changes as well :) With all due respect to the mood I offer this one. FWIW. a

[William Dickson]

I think your repost looks nice Arthur. You have kept the atmosphere about the image, and the IQ looks better. Thanks for that :S3:.

Can I ask what you did?

Will

[Arthur Morris]

I think your repost looks nice Arthur. You have kept the atmosphere about the image, and the IQ looks better. Thanks for that :S3:. Can I ask what you did? Will

Hey Will, You are most welcome. I am glad for that. Crop. Pulled the curve up. Applied a layer of Auto Contrast and reduced that to about 20% opacity. The hard work was losing the grass that cut into the bird's belly. That took me a while as I really like the image and I wanted to do a good job. I used the Clone Stamp Tool to divide and conquer followed by the Patch Tool. Where that did not work out to well I used a series of small Quick Masks. And I think that I added a Contrast Mask only to the face and then pulled the curve up on that. (CM = Unsharp Mask at 15/65/0.)

All of the above plus dozens of great Photoshop tips are detailed in my Digital Basics File (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252). a