Work For You or Not? "The Attack"

[Dave Mills]

To emulate Lance's post I'm posting an image which I feel has alot of drama but there are other considerations.
Looking for folks to comment and give me their opinions.
Nikon D300,500mm,F9,1/4000.ISO 800,-1/3 comp,tripod mtd

[Ricardo Rodriguez]

I like the action and drama that you captured, Dave. I think the feather over the eye and the back wing are distracting, though.

Ricardo

[PeterCollins]

Hi Dave,

I agree works for me, the eye being masked is the major downer on this one.

shame you lost a little on the top as well but imo good capture

[Tom Graham]

Nice. But feather over eye and the feet merging with the beak and crab(?). That the wings are cropped doesn't bother me since the area of most interest are the faces/beaks and there is enough wing there to show strong activity/motion.
Tom

[David Stephens]

It works for me. The feathers, beaks, crab, etc. all tell the story, dramatically. I can wish for one feather to be a little different, but the detraction is minor vs. the power of the emotion shown.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Dave,

Greetings. While the feather detail, and great action and water accents are pluses, the angle of the crab (in conjunction with the feet), centered comp, as well as the eye make it very iffy. That these are common seagulls doing what seagulls do... ends it for me. Now, if these were bald eagles...

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Alfred Forns]

Find the action outstanding and not captured very often, maybe they do fight a lot but not captured a lot ... particularly from that angle About all I could have wished is for two things ... one that the eye was visible and second ... that is was mine !!!!!

Michael since they are so common and easy to get I would like seeing you post one?

[Lance Peters]

Hi Dave - as you say -its not perfect - but do love the action and has a great feel.
Sure there are other considerations - common subjects maybe - under photographed - FOR SURE.
Works for me.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Alfred,

Greetings. I thought Dave's question was whether it worked for me or not. I gave it to him straight. I probably would not have added the bit about the commonality of seagulls fighting over food had the question been just - does this work, as my personal opinion about the subject matter would be immaterial.

I'm not sure what having a similar shot or taking a similar shot or wanting to take a similar shot has to do with it.

Would this be a compelling action shot if the crab were a piece of bread thrown by a tourist? Just curious.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Tom Graham]

"....if the crab were a piece of bread...."
What that is, crab?, is a big problem for me. I looked and looked and saw feet? and ??? and finally decide it was likely a crab. I generally don't like to work that hard to enjoy a photo :)
Tom

[Desmond Chan]

It works! I think it could be cropped a bit tighter, too, from the right.

[Bob Miller]

HI Dave....except for the unfortunate feather over the eye...I like it and seagulls are cool!

[Mark Young]

The action is superb! Excellent timing to get the bird in mid flight like this. I've unsuccessfully tried so many times to capture action like this and it's not easy! Congrats.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Michael I guess the crab makes it more natural but even the tossed bread would be neat. I'm still trying to come up with one like it.

You are correct in your answer since it is only an opinion but was curious to see if you had anything like it. We have one image .... we I mean Fabs :) or a herring gull crashing on mating laughing gulls !!!!

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Alfred,

I have to admit to a dislike of seagulls. I've lived in areas where human interaction has essentially trained them to behave like vermin. My reaction to a photo of them fighting over bread is... gag. I don't expect others to have this same opinion.

I do have a 40 shot sequence of a brown pelican diving then battling a gull for the fish in its gullet. The shots are okay... nothing like the action in the OP.... (not to mention that I had less than 2 years of photography experience at the time [less than 4 now] in the past 35 years) ... I'll put one of the sequence up in another thread. The techs are of some amusement.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Dave Mills]

Hi Folks, Thanks for all the comments and lively discussion. My issues are not different from many comments. I kept the image since I loved the action but I also wished the feather wasn't over the eye. I also hoped that the feet didn't merge with the crab so it could be seen more distinctly. The wings were cut in the original and I decided to crop it down a bit more to key in the action.
Again, thanks for the participation which helps us all....

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

It worked for me, love the action between the gulls. The cut wings doesn't bother me since the tight crop emphasis on the action. I second the cropping more off the right to focus in more on the action. Just wish the wing doesn't cover the eye.