Herring Gull in Fog

[Douglas Bolt]

Herring Gull on bow of lobster boat in dense fog near Cranberry Island.

5DM2, 70-200@200, f6.3, 1/2500, ISO 640. PP: nearly full frame, CoEfxPro, dfine, a couple of curves, cleaned up the bill some.

I like the eye contact, the foggy background, and the OOF shoreline, but the bird does not seem as sharp to me as it might. I'm open to suggestions and CC. Does it work for you?

[Ashley Cohen]

It would work for me but as you mention the bird just seems lacking in sharpness, Im guessing if it's on a boat then maybe it's just a bit of motion thats stopped it being pin sharp. I still like it though

[Iain Barker]

This looks sharp to me especially the eye. I quite like the composition and the foggy background.
Others will know better but I wonder if there may be more detail in the whites that is currently showing as they are certainly not blown.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Sharpeness and exposure look fine to me. Some fill-flash would have helped puch up the darker part of the face and the bill colours. I think flipping your camera to a vertical with more shoulder showing would have worked quite well, but I do like the kinda surprised / shy feel the current comp gives the subject.

[Douglas Bolt]

Thanks, all, for your comments. Maybe I should have used the term detail, rather than sharpness. The neck feathers of the bird just looks a bit too smooth.

Actually , I did take a vertical of the bird. I prefer the position in the OP. Not entirely sure why, but the horizontal seems to draw my attention to the bird's eye while the vertical seems less demanding. I should mention that the second post has not been adjusted in PS, just ACR.