Bonaparte's Gull

[Mike Milicia]

EOS-1D Mk IV, 500mm f/4L IS + 1.4x II, 1/1250, f/8, ISO 800
Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley
About 92% of Full Frame

Photographed this past weekend on the North Shore of Massachusetts.

Looking forward to your comments and critiques!

[Randy Stout]

Mike:

Nice shooting angle, sharp, well exposed, nice comp.

I might try to bring up the catchlight just a bit.

Cheers

Randy

[jack williamson]

What a wonderfully smooth image. That is a perfect exposure for the gull. I really like how the sharpness fades into the smooth BG.

Jack

[Ofer Levy]

Nice and simple. I feel that few adjustments can improve this image: cropped off the bottom as the partial reflection doesn't add IMO, added some canvas top and left to balance the composition and applied a slight CCW rotation. Also boosted colours a bit as it looks like you had some lovely light. Finally saved as sRGB as image doesn't look like sRGB on my computer with Internet Explorer which doesn't manage colour space. WDYT?

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful shot, Mike. Ditto the catchlight. I like the comp in Ofer's repost, but the color boost is a little too much IMHO. Something odd about the reflection in the LR corner

[Mike Milicia]

Thanks Randy, Jack, and Ofer!

Ofer, thanks for taking the time to repost. I like your composition. Not sure about the rotation. I went back and forth on that. Would be interested to hear what others think.
Color boost looks like a good idea but I think I might go for something more in between. Image in OP was converted to sRGB but forgot to tag it.

[Mike Milicia]

Thanks, Bill! I guess I was typing as you posted.
I think I see what you mean about the reflection. It is natural (no cloning on this image) but the water was a bit rippled which is probably what gave this effect.

[jack williamson]

Ofer as much as I like your repost I really like the soft colors of the op better and now that Bill has pointed it out Mike, what caused that strange rectangle in the lrc?

Jack

Mike, I must have been posting when you were, I see your explanation. Thanks

[Jim Crosswell]

Nice image Mike. I like the exposure, low angle and composition in Ofers repost.

[Luis Villablanca]

Beautiful portrait of this gull. I love the exposure, perspective and colors on the original post but prefer Ofer's composition.

[Charles Glatzer]

Mike,

This is oh so sweet. The exposure could not be better.

Chas

[Sachin Saraf]

Wonderful capture Mike...excellent in all aspects.

[Doug Brown]

I prefer the original version of this Gull. Excellent exposure, great sharpness, and a low angle.