Laughing Gulls

[John Mack]

Laughing gulls copulating on the beach. Image adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Hand held, Full frame.

Canon 5D MarkIII
Sigma 150-600 Contemporay
484mm
ISO 400
f6.3
1/1000sec

[Randy Stout]

John;

He seems pretty proud of himself, she doesn't seem so impressed.

Great angle, background.

I might consider cropping out a bit of the OOF foreground, perhaps 30% of it to start.

Cheers

Randy

[Isaac Grant]

Randy that made me crack up! Very nice mating shot John. Is this from Florida? Details look pretty good but I think they could be better. You also have a pretty strong blue cast to the birds, both in the whites and the grays. Removing that will help you get more details out of the whites.

[gail bisson]

Whenever I see images of laughing gulls mating, it transports me back to Florida.
The look on the female's face is so funny! I know I am anthropomorphising but she looks less than impressed!
I love the dreamy blue ocean BG. Sand is nice and clean. I would crop up from the bottom to reduce the amount of OOF sand.
Good IQ and exposure and comp,
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

Yes my reaction was similar, the caption for her could be, "have you nearly finished?!!" I agree removing blues in the birds helps, it is not immediately obvious but it does make a difference. I would suggest removing 50% of the amorphous base. if you did not apply clarity to the birds maybe a little would boost definition, I am sure it is there.

[John Mack]

Thanks Isaac, It is Florida. Fort Desoto.

[Jay Ing]

Great shot. Love the color and clarity. The expressions are just great.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi John, well done on capturing nature's behaviour, and the open beak of the male tells it all. I like the eye level perspective, and both posed against the distant ocean. Another vote for taking a touch off the bottom.

[Noel Heustis]

John - Great low perspective shot. I love the BG colors and the head angles. I agree with taking a bit off the bottom. Thank you for sharing.

[stuart wanuck]

nice capture