Wishing on a Star (fish)

[Nancy Bell]

I watched this gull for well over an hour and he just could not figure out how to swallow this starfish, but he would not give it up either! It was a gray, misty day on the coast of central Oregon, late Aug.

Canon 1D-Mark IV, Canon 400 f4 DO IS + 1.4x, f5.6, 1/3200, exp. comp. +1/3, ISO 400, tripod

All C & C most welcome and appreciated.

[Danny J Brown]

Hi Nancy - What a whimsical moment that you had to capture no matter how gray and misty. I love any image with a starfish. Conditions were tough here, especially on the critter's eyes. I would have dropped that 1D4 to ISO 200 with all that diffuse light you had available. ISO 200 images out of the 1D4 are silky smooth like frozen custard! Enjoying your images from off the mountain.

DB

[Randy Stout]

Nancy:

Makes me smile. Did he ever get it down? I would think that shape would be almost impossible to swallow.

Sharp, well exposed. I might consider moving him a bit left in the frame.

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

That gull does have a somewhat puzzled look to it! I just wish the eyes had a bit more life to them instead of looking like two holes. Is there a faint reflection in the yes that you can bring out more?

[laurie golden]

Nancy,

I watched a gull eat a starfish about that size many years ago - also on the Oregon coast. It did take a very long time to swallow it. I love these interesting poses.

[Mike Milicia]

Great job getting him with the starfish!
Agree with Randy about moving bird to left in frame ... might put head near center of frame for a pose like this.
Agree with Daniel about the eyes. Looks like head on just does not work very well for this species giving angle/position of eyes on the head.
Looks like you could have given up some shutter speed but, given the lens and converter, the first thing I would do is shut down one stop.
I always try to shoot at least one stop down from wide open when using converters.

[Randy Stout]

Nancy:

I have looked at this one a couple of times, and I might try a version with slightly warmer color temp and see what you think. I know that you had cloudy conditions, so it probably had a bit of a blue cast, but give it a try, see what you think.

Cheers

Randy

[Nancy Bell]

Great advice, everyone, Thank you! I tried several different crops and just could not get one that I really liked. I'll try as suggested. On the position, I have several side view images so the eye looks better but the starfish is not as dramatic. I could easily have given up some shutter speed and I wish I had noticed that at the moment. Actually I didn 't need the converter at all but hated to remove it in a windy, sandy environment. Sometimes I wish I could tatoo a list of items to remember somewhere on my arm so in the heat of the moment I could refer to it :S3:! I'll try warming the image and see what I get.

And no, that silly bird never did swallow the starfish nor give it up the whole time I was there. I last saw him on a distant rock. He was easy to pick out with that starfish still sticking out of his mouth!