The End is Near

[Stephen Keene (Plumviewer)]

EOS-1D Mark III, EF-600 f/4 USM IS. ISO 400 f/7.1 @ 1/1000. Low tide at Emerson Rocks, Plum Island, is a dangerous place for crabs. Even youngsters seem adept at digging them out.

[Desmond Chan]

Great capture, good details !

How does the gull eat the crab exactly?

[Mike Milicia]

Very cool image from one of my favorite places!
Great job catching the action! Excellent DOF!

Seems a bit dark as posted with maybe a bit of a color cast.
Only way I could be more specific was to download it and try some adjustments.
Hope you don't mind. See what you think ...

Here's what I did :
- Did a Color Balance adjustment and added a bit of Magenta and a bit of Blue
- Desaturated the yellows and reds a bit
- Levels adjustment to bring in the white point
- Added a bit more contrast with a Curves adjustment
- Selectively lightened the eye a bit

[Stephen Keene (Plumviewer)]

Desmond - The gulls seem to pierce the crabs body after putting it on its back. The gulls biggest problem is other gulls who would love to run off with the catch. A gulls bill is a pretty good tool for disecting, but I think that much of how little meat there is is left for scavengers.

[Stephen Keene (Plumviewer)]

Mike - I have no objection. That's one of the things this great forum is for. This was captured in late afternoon light and it was somewhat grey. I spent very little effort to optimize the image. Had I travelled in your direction I think I would have desaturated a bit less. One thing we clearly agreeon is that PI is a truly great place.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Is this a big crop?, it looks like it, other than the little absence of details and the noise, I like this compo and situation a lot! Congratulations!

[Daniel Cadieux]

I personally prefer the original as it looks less, well, purple (magenta + blue!) I agree with ramone that it seems to look like a big crop, but I also like the comp and action. A huge bonus is that the crab is facing the right way!!

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Great photo Stephen! I particularly like the contrasting colors between the bird and the crab. Perfect exposure as well IMO

[Stephen Keene (Plumviewer)]

Is this a big crop?, it looks like it, other than the little absence of details and the noise, I like this compo and situation a lot! Congratulations!
Ramon -- I guess I'd have to say a substantial crop. Here's the full frame.

[Ramon M. Casares]

:D Substantial.. yes! Thanks for the answer Stephen, but let me say that a full body crop would've worked as well and wityhout loosing so many detail, maybe something like this! Congratulations still on such great capture.

[Dana B. Hughes]

I like the originally submitted image. I must say thats a nice shot being cropped down like that and still retain such detail. I'm not "an expert" but I thought the image was wonderful and I love the crop and everything about it. I especially like all the different hues of grey.

eta: maybe the only thing I would change is that water drop on the crabs leg, the highlight brings my eye down to the water drop.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Steve, The image looked darned good for such a huge crop. I wish only for a bit more head turn by the gull. The position of the crab is dead-solid perfect.

[Mitchell Krog]

Great shot with such clarity, I like the close crop, would not have known unless you said so :) Well done.

[Linda Robbins]

The original crop looks pretty good for such a huge crop; but there is quite a bit of noise in the BG. Love the crab! Great capture.