1 Attachment(s)
Avian Image of the Week Melissa Groo for week ending Nov. 11th, 2011 - Ring-Billed Gull
Congratulations Melissa!!!:S3:
Canon 5D Mark II
24-105mm f/4 at 75mm
Handheld
ISO 640
1/2500
f/5.6
Took this at the tail end of the wood ducks workshop with Matthew Studebaker in Ohio a couple weeks ago, we'd gone over to Conneaut on Lake Erie, and, after photographing some Bonaparte's gulls and sanderlings, we drove by an area where some people were feeding gulls, mostly ring-billed. Matthew suggested we use wide angle lenses, which was a great recommendation. I got some neat shots of individual gulls as well as groups of gulls this way, as we stood near the folks feeding them and caught the birds doing quite a bit of hovering. The light was sort of pinkish golden as the sun was setting and it lit the gulls up nicely. I liked the dynamic pose in this shot.
I struggled a little bit with the processing of this, needed to tame the whites a bit and did this in Highlights recovery. I also lightened a couple areas in Viveza. Selective sharpening and some added saturation of the sky. Some NR.
I hope you like it. Greatly appreciate all comments and critiques.
