Hovering black headed gull

[Geoff Warnock]

This photo was actually taken at one of the nicest moments I've encountered since getting into bird photography. This gull hovered just meters above the beach in the cross wind and presented itself for photos even at a low focal length. Such an opportunity hasn't really presented itself since.

Full frame, no PP.
Nikon D40 with Nikkor 55-200mm VR lens.
1/1600 f5.6 iso 200 135mm

Thanks for looking.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4126/5065170491_7e15d2ea85_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/53654547@N02/5065170491/)
soaring gull (http://www.flickr.com/photos/53654547@N02/5065170491/) by Geoff Warnock (http://www.flickr.com/people/53654547@N02/), on Flickr

[Randy Stout]

Geoff:

Your gull looks well exposed (not always easy against the sky) with nice clouds in the background. I like that the gull is in the clear blue sky with surrounding clouds (no overlap)
Please post the image at the largest allowed size, 1024 by 800, it really helps with the critiques.

Cheers

Randy

[Geoff Warnock]

Thanks Randy, the larger version:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4126/5065170491_7e15d2ea85_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/53654547@N02/5065170491/)
soaring gull (http://www.flickr.com/photos/53654547@N02/5065170491/) by Geoff Warnock (http://www.flickr.com/people/53654547@N02/), on Flickr

[Randy Stout]

Geoff:

Thanks for the bigger posting! Much easier to see and critique.
Did you dial in some +EC to handle the lighting conditions, or have enough fill light bouncing off the beach that it worked out like a giant reflector?

Randy

[Geoff Warnock]

Hi Randy, I think that your theory about the beach reflector is correct. The gull was only meters above the whitish Belgian sand and there was also an area of concrete nearby that might have had the same effect.

[Arthur Morris]

Very nicely done. Though I love the bird set against the blue the high position of the bird in the frame bugs me a bit. But I do not want to crop out any of those loverly clouds. I guess that that presents a quandary :)

[Geoff Warnock]

Thank you Arthur. I too am glad that there is enough separation from the clouds. I have a couple of others of this fella where he is entirely over cloud that would crop more readily, but the pose isn't as nice.