Gull Illusion

[Brendan Dozier]

This pose was almost captured as is, so with the freedom of OOTB, I tweaked it to the more interesting looking pose I almost captured! :bg3: I cloned out the part of head showing to give the illusion that the head was turned downwards, and cloned the bit of foot sticking out by the tail.

[John Storjohann]

Brendan, I like the background on this one, the wingspread, and the little bit of tension between the line of the wings and the line of the wave breaking against the shore line - it all draws your eye to the gull and the wave is out of focus just enough that it doesn't break up the image too badly...but I find myself looking for anything I can identify as the head of the gull. Is the gull flying away from the camera? If it is, it helps me make the adjustment toward the "illusion that the head was turned downwards". If it were mine, I might tone down the whites on the right wing and on the left side of the tail. Great job freezing the wing movement and the spread of the wings.

[denise ippolito]

Brendan, Awesome details and fanned tail. I think John makes an interesting observation. I like the way you framed this and I would be curious to see the original. Great OOTB thinking!:S3:

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks John & Denise. Here's the original from the RAW file.
John, I wanted to give the impression that the gulls head was turned down, behind the body, and part of the illusion is the viewer does a bit of a double take as to how the gull is orientated in space. I guess looking at it now, maybe I should have titled it the "The Headless Seagull of Carlsbad State Beach"! :bg3:
I liked how the detail of the muscles of the gulls back are emphasized in this, something that you don't always see, and I think that comes through without the added changes. The Avian forum has a "interesting & unique poses" theme this month: so I was going through some of my more recent shots to find unique poses, and found this, and decided to experiment.

[Susan Candelario]

Hey Brendan,
Like how you captured the Gull. John touched on a few of the suggestion I was going to offer. If you are using PS CS5 I think you will find the new Puppet Warp tool might be useful in what you are trying to accomplish. Your clean up work is nicely done and I like the diag. wing span and the placement in the frame.

[John Storjohann]

Hi Brendan;

The original image helps me out a lot - it gives me a point of reference. Seeing that, I like the idea of the OP...maybe if you left a hint of the curve of the head and neck...and removed the "ruffling" just to the right of the head along the top of the right wing? (Again, just thinking out loud...now that I have a point of reference and realize that I'm looking at the back of the gull, the image works much better for me!)

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks Susan & John, good tips and suggestions to make it look more natural. I'm just too lazy to try them right now! :bg3:

[denise ippolito]

Brendan, Thanks for sharing the original capture. I like your interpretation of the scene. :S3:

[Andrew McLachlan]

Nice processing Brendan. It does look as though the gull is looking down.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Brendan,

I like the backside view......not the HA...or should I say lack of a head!.........yeah.....the HAP reside here too! This forum does reside in the "critique" section..........so I have to be honest........while I love 99% of your work......this one doesn't work for me:e3.......sorry!

[Brendan Dozier]

No reason to be sorry, Roman, I appreciate your honesty. I've learned a ton from your critiques, and appreciate the time you put into them.