White black headed gull?

Something different - a reverse portrait of a black headed gull at Fort DeSoto

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3561/...bc685e57_o.jpg

Nikon D200 with 70-300mm VR at 300mm F/5.6 1/640 100 ISO
Worked in Lightroom using Deviant2 plugin

Very nice Kevin,
I like this very much, the prominent crystal clear eye makes it for me; it actually draws you into the picture...well done...:cool:

I like this Kevin! Almost looks like a sketch with a bit of watercolor. As Gus said, the eye draws you in. I would crop some off the top as I feel that extra white space doesn't contribute to the picture.

Kevin, I love it! The crystal clear eye is super! This has a very monochromatic feel. I also like the light sketched look.Agree w/ Christopher w/ cropping a tad from top. If it were mine, and I wish it were-I would clone the beak shadow. Really nice work!!!

Initially I didn't like cropping the pic as it seemed to change the dynamics of how it looked. I have taken all your suggestions and have reworked the image - tell me what you think. Thanks.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3660/...b3f67152_o.jpg

Kevin, nice photoshop work! Like the removal of the shadow- personally I think you could leave a bit more on top than you did. I would only take 1/2 " off original, like your thoughts about it changing the dynamics-it really did.

A wonderful effect. I too prefer it without the shadow. The gulls with black heads at DeSoto are Laughing Gulls. Ilove the splayed feathers on the sides of the bird.

Hey Kevin..another nice new technique we can all learn...shadow removal works...but I personally like original crop or at least more room at top....after seeing what you did, I tried this with a few of my photos...love the effect...Paul

Very nice, Kevin! I opened the image to try another crop but liked what you had better. One thing I did notice, though, is if you open levels and hit the "auto" button it gives it a slight tweak of contrast in the eye area...you might want to check that out!

Thanks everyone for your comments - they are much appreciated. Thank you to Artie for the correct identification. Julie - a great find, I like it! This was really done with little effort so I'm going to spend some hours redoing this properly and may post a completed pic in the next weeks.

Kevin, Look forward to it!