Gull silhouetted against bright sun

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

http://gallery.photo.net/photo/10858983-lg.jpg

I was working on GIF silhouettes and tracking this one. But he went into the other direction than the one I would have liked. So closed my eyes and pulled the trigger. Eyes wide shut, you can say. I was pleasantly surprised to find it in the frame like this. a little crop from below and right.

Pulled down a little in DPP and then set black point to get rid of the flare. I cannot claim that I "composed" this :-) But I think the 'bird leaving the frame' comp is working well here. What do you think?

40D. 400 f5.6 at f/6.3. 1/8000s. iso 400. evaluative +2/3rd. SS maxed out though. which wasn't that bad a thing I guess.

All C&C welcome.

[Martin Wallis]

It works for me. I like it. I haven't done any of this sort of photography yet, but I would have thought an ISO of 100 would have been a given for this? Any particular reason for using 400?

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Martin, I was actually shooting gulls against red and orange sky. And wanted a decent SS( 1/2000+) to freeze the bird. Hence, I had dialed in ISO of 400. I also did some shots at ISO 640. But this one flew in front of the sun. Had no time to change ISO.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Hmmm...I would have liked the bird coming into the frame . Just my switch , I guess .

[Daniel Cadieux]

The comp works for me, but I would have prefered a little more separation between the gull and the sun (as posted the gull about an inch lower in the frame). It should be easy to work out if you are inclined to do so. I would also make the the sky a deeper shade of gold. Still, well done.:)

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Daniel, thx for the feedback. I did try making the sky a little deeper shade...but it wasnt looking very believable so close to the sun.

[Stu Bowie]

Different Kaustubh, and I actually like this. Good to see the backlight through the tip of the near wing. I also like the softer colour of the sky.