Shrimp for breakfast

[Stu Bowie]

Another gull image, but what grabs my attention in this, is the shadow of the shrimp on the body of the gull - resembles the outline of an elephant.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300F/2.8 +2X TC = 600mm ( given to me for the morning shoot )
1/1600
F/7.1
ISO 800

Exp comp +0.33
hand held

[Greg Oakley]

That's very cool Stuart! Lovely image with great wing-spread pose as well.
Cheers, Greg

PS. Not a word about the rugby

[shane shacaluga]

Lovely shot. The light is beautiful. Like the up-stretched wings and the reflection on the golden water

The shot is missing a bit of eye contact but this has made the elephant on the chest which is a bonus!

TFS

[Martin Dunn]

terrific rich colours and I love the shades and textures on the plumage.
only slight niggle is that the reflection is not complete

[LinzRiverBalmer]

I usually really like reflections on water, but I think this one detracts from the great elephant.

the eye contact to me actually almost says, "yeah I see you, what are you looking at". The shrimp was way more important.

very cool angle on the wings.

[Girish Prahalad]

lovely wingspread & exposure with good details. the elephant shadow is cool.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Very nice capture, like the wing position, and of course the shrimp. I agree about cropping tighter to play up the shrimp/shadow aspect. Would crop off much of the reflection, leaving the two 'rocks' lower left corner (tone them down just a bit) and probably do a balancing crop from above.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack for all the feedback and suggestions everyone. Here is a quick repost with above suggestions. I decided to come in on the sides too.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Maybe a sliver more room below, but I think the tighter crop does focus our attention on the shrimp/shadow better.

cheers

Randy

[Doug Brown]

I like Randy's critique of the repost; a bit more room at the bottom. Cool shadow, excellent whites, and nice sharpness. Love the golden water.

[Frank Schauf]

Nice pose and sharp detail.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the elephant shadow, wing position, water colour, IQ and crop suggestions. Great image Stuart!

[Melissa Groo]

Taking out the reflection of this stunning shot was a good idea to focus the viewer completely on that dramatic pose. I too agree more room below would be helpful, looks too cramped as is. At the same time, that's hard to pull off if you're trying to cut out the reflection!
I just love the way the white pops against that background, and the squiggly shadows on the chest.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice shot, Randy. I like the wings up posaition. The repost is better composed.

[Satish Ranadive]

Stuart Sir,
Superb image of gull with shrimp and it's shadow. Love the full up stretched wings, red beak, great details, reflection of water on bird and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Markus Jais]

Fantastic wing pose and perfect exposure and sharpness. I like the form of the shrimp's shadow.
The 2nd version with more cropping at the bottom is even better.

Markus

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - lovely light and I too funny about the shadow. It does look like an elephant! Great wing position too. Good suggestions for the comp by Randy.

TFS,
Rachel