Ring Billed Gull

[David N Smith]

Taken 01-07-2018 at Bradenton Beach.

I am just getting back into bird photography seriously so I will accept any and all help you can give.

Canon 6D MkII, Tamron 150-600 G2 @ 428 mm, F 6.3, 1/1600, ISO 400, HH

[Tim Foltz]

Hi David, glad to hear you're getting back into bird photography. A few pointers on this shot that would have made the image better.
Have the light at your back and the head angle slightly towards you if possible. Exposure looks good, but the white balance could have been warmed up bit.
Looking forward to seeing more.

-Tim

[Bob Miller]

Hi David...I actually like that you shot into the sun ! The wings are displayed beautifully with that backlight. You can lighten up the dark face etc using layers in Ps. Duplicate the layer and change the blend mode to screen. This will lighten up everything until you apply a black mask and then paint in where you want to lighten. You can then fine tune by using the opacity slider on that duplicated layer. I have used this technique many times and have found it invaluable. If you are new to processing, write the technique down and start learning Ps layers.