I'm always amazed at how athletic gulls are. It was blowing up the Long Island Sound today at about 40 mph and the water was a rough as I've seen it. The gulls were undaunted and were diving in between the waves and paddling across the top of the water for the fornucata that were getting banged out of their shells by the roughness.
1/5000, f 5.6, ISO 800 (Settings were for flight and to minimize lens shake from the wind)
Canon 1DX, 500 f4 + 1.4tc + tripod
The separation from the BG is so good, it looks like it was photoshopped (in a good way).
Sharpness is superb and sense of place in the environment is very nice.
Although the drops are very nice, I think moving it back a bit (eliminating the second line of drops),
would look nice.
Grace:
Absolutely superb flight post pose of gull on blue waves.
Love the pose with nice HA,yellow legs and trailing of water droplets in artistic way behind him.
As usual lovely composition.
Nice job in tough conditions. I love the position of his feet and the water drops behind him make it look like he was being blown up and down with the wind. Nice job.
Loveit...great action and I love the leg positions and water drops! I'm with Charles in cropping left and bottom, that would leaving an interesting comp. I would also slightly tone down the white patch directly behind the bill. Great stuff, very entertaining image!
Grace, your dedication in shooting in such conditions is incredible. I think this is a great environmental shot and tells the story of the wind with the drops and leg being blown around. Your usual excellent techs too.
Loving these images you've been sharing, Grace. Getting out in these kind of conditions are when you're going to bring home the unique captures you wouldn't see on a calm day. The only thing I would do for this is crop some off the bottom for more of a pano b/c I think it would really accentuate the bird, action and water spray.
I really liked this. the thumbnail certainly does not do justice. Loved the trail of the water and the choppy sea surroundings. I am liking the crop as presented. IMO, the water in the FG is helping the overall feel of the windy conditions.
Beutiful picture, Grace. I really like the way the water droplets show the way the Gull treaded the water.
I like Gulls because to my experience they are the only birds around here that like to fly just for the sake of flying.
The stronger the wind the happier they seem to be.
Nice capture Grace. Good job getting out there in the tough conditions. The wind can sometimes help with BIF shots because the action is slowed down a little as gulls take off into the wind, as most birds do. The water drops add allot and the techs are excellent. Nice work.
A hop, Skip and a jump
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