Black Headed Gull

[William Dickson]

Canon 1DX Mk2
f/4 400mm DO Mk2
f/4
1/8000
ISO 800

I captured this BHG on the shore in my hometown....This bird is changing into Winter plumage....These are my fave Gulls to photograph and plenty was around....I spent a few hours with them and tried different exposure settings, perched, and in flight... I liked the detail here at the faster SS...About a 50% crop.

Will

[kevin Hice]

Lovely image Will and the darker background goes so nice with the bird. Processing looks good as does the framing. Perfect HA raised foot is a bonus. TFS

[dankearl]

This is very nice.. I did not know what to expect clicking on the thumbnail, but it Pops!
I do think the BG could use some NR or more of it if you did.

[David Pugsley]

Handsome bird. I'd like to see a bit of a crop from the bottom and some more headroom, though the crop from the bottom may visually take care of the headroom.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thre gull looks spot on Will - very nice indeed.
A minor point some darker areas in the background look a little less than ideal, a green/yellow faint glistening look to them. (L&R of the bird's head)

[Arthur Morris]

I love gulls including this very nice image Love the raised foot. My repost addresses David Pugsley's wish for a bit off the bottom. The big improvement, I believe, was a Layer with a 65-pixel Gaussian Blue. I use a Hide-All mask to cover the blur, and then painted it in in 33% increments on the upper and mid-background to eliminate some of the lumpy/off color/posterization (?) problems there.

All as detailed (plus tons more) in Digital Basics II. (https://birdsasart-shop.com/the-birds-as-art-current-workflow-e-guide-digital-basics-ii/)

with love, arite

[William Dickson]

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated...

Will

[William Dickson]

I love gulls including this very nice image Love the raised foot. My repost addresses David Pugsley's wish for a bit off the bottom. The big improvement, I believe, was a Layer with a 65-pixel Gaussian Blue. I use a Hide-All mask to cover the blur, and then painted it in in 33% increments on the upper and mid-background to eliminate some of the lumpy/off color/posterization (?) problems there.

All as detailed (plus tons more) in Digital Basics II. (https://birdsasart-shop.com/the-birds-as-art-current-workflow-e-guide-digital-basics-ii/)

with love, arite

Thanks for that Artie......Looks a better BG now.

Will

[John Mack]

A nice looking gull. I do like the raised foot. Those red legs are nice. Nice and sharp.

[Brian Sump]

Will, just a super sweet and simple one for me. Love the nicely exposed composition and the pop of orange. Awesome foot up pose with darker bkg is sweet.

No nits from me!