Laughing Gulls at Fort DeSoto

[David Kennedy]

Canon 1D Mk II N, 400mm f/4 DO
Exposed 1/200 sec. @ f/6.3, ISO 400 (AE + 1 1/3 stops)
Walt Anderson panning ground pod

The sun kept going in and out at Fort DeSoto last Sunday morning (the 6th of April), but the birds didn't care one way or the other. They just kept performing!

I did not provide enough distance between the left gull's tail and the edge of the frame so I added canvas. I could probably take the saturation up a notch, but thought I would post it before going any further. Any thoughts you might have are more than welcome!

Cheers,
David

[Maxis Gamez]

Hey David,

This is very romantic and intimate. Love the low angle, details and exposure. I would crop just a hair from the bottom.

[Jim Poor]

Great interaction. I agree with some off the bottom, maybe right to the top of your name. I don't think I would up the saturation in this one, but you never really know until you try it to see.

[John Cooper]

Love the interaction in this story-telling image David. Good exposure and detail and like the framing of the birds in the strip of blue. Well done!!!

[Linda Robbins]

David, this is lovely, Sweet bonding moment captured, and the bg is beautiful. Nice soft lighting and perfect head angles on both birds. The low perspective is great. I also think I would crop some off the bottom...and maybe add canvas on top for more of that beautiful pink.

[David Kennedy]

Thank you all for the comments! Last night I saw Maxis' comment before I went to bed and cropped off a bit from the bottom and immediately liked it better. I've since tweaked the colors a bit and removed some of the yellow and magenta casts that were becoming apparent in the gray feathers with some quick adjustments of the curves in the LAB color space.

As per Jim's suggestion, I also cut just a bit from the right, and then added canvas as Linda proposed. Additionally, I did some more beach clean-up with quick-masking.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the repost even better, great angle and interaction!

[Geurt Bloem]

The repost works very well for me, well done.

[Linda Robbins]

Repost looks fantastic. Great job!

[David Kennedy]

What a little LAB color and quick masking won't do :D

Thanks all!