Galapagos #8/Playing

[Arthur Morris]

This Swallow-tailed Gull in fresh juvenal plumage was photographed at Darwin Bay on Tower Island with the Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens (handheld at 141 mm) with the EOS-50D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/1000 sec. at f/6.3.

All kids like to play.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Fernando Cerra]

Artie, the exposure looks perfect in my monitor, great control of whites in this situation Aside from technical stuff, I love the image, there is nothing like a good exposed image of a bird´s behavior in an all natural setting.

Regards
Fernando Cerra

[Rene Quenneville]

Well exposed and sharp. I like the way the wings are framing the action, very artistic. I wish we had more eye contact. Do you feel that a little fill flash would have helped to better define the eye?

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks guys. Rene, these birds have big dark eye and eye sockets. Flash would help, but the use of flash is not permitted in the Galapagos.

[Ashutosh Sinha]

Does it need some CW rotation ? Waves seems to be slanting downwards on the left.

[Rick Dobson]

Beautiful gull and my first time seeing it. The positioning of the gulls wings really shows off the beautiful pattern and colour contrast on the wings. I'm guessing an over cast day. On my monitor I don't see much feather detail and considering the distance I would have expected more?

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

My only comments are about the angle of view and the eye too. Maybe you could add the catchlight in photoshop Artie? The image is beautiful nevertheless and illustrates great behavior. :)

[Harshad Barve]

Kid is looking great here Guruji, I am loving exposure control.
All in all this is fantastic image
TFS

[Kiran Poonacha]

Like the Swallow tail protrayed well here and the natural moment captured... Congrats Guru...

[Stu Bowie]

Good control on the whites, and I like the markings and colours on the wings. A strange colour to the water, as Rick mentioned, maybe overcast. Always great to see the kids enjoying themselves.

[Morkel Erasmus]

beautiful youngster nicely exposed. I would try and dodge in a catchlight and think an even lower angle would have been swell if possible (assume you were in a small boat?). I don't see need for rotation and think the conditions were handled very well.

[Jim Fenton]

Artie.....

After looking at this for the past day and trying to figure out what it is that bothers my eyes here, I think it's a combination of three things.....

A) The little dark reflections on the water make this look like shallow water (even if it weren't) and therefore, it looks as if a lower angle would have been possible.

B) The angle of the waves makes it look as though it needs rotation even though it doesn't.

C) I'd pit the bird higher in the frame and a tad more to the left. Since the point of interest I assume is the head and the stick, I'd try and raise them up in the frame.

Killer bird!