On a recent trip to Norway, we spent some time photographing Herring Gulls backlit against a dark forested hill. This one had just taken off.
I hope you like it!
Canon EOS 1D Mk IV, EF 200-400 f/4 L @300
1/3200 sec at f/6.3, ISO 400 Handheld.
Conversion in DPP and then to PS 5. Adjusted the position in the frame, set black in curves, adjusted lights, gentle touch of NR and Sharpening. Slight crop for presentation.
This is a very striking image. At the outset, I liked the composition and the backlighting. Because the little white specks are on the gull as well as the background, I'm not sure what they are, but -- to me, anyway -- they're a little distracting. I wondered if they'd seem less so if they looked like stars in a black sky, so I duplicated the layer, lassoed the gull, did a content-aware fill, expanded the layer substantially to make the stars larger, changed the blend mode to Lighter Color, and lowered its opacity so the new, large stars weren't overpowering.
I like the pose and good job freezing the action with the SS. I agree with Dennis that the specks are distracting. I would emphasize or lose them (Personally I think I would get rid of them). I couldn't resist trying it in b and w too. Nice entry for the theme Gerald.
Many thanks for your thoughts and comments - and reposts. The white speck are droplets of water coming from the bird as it had just lifted off the sea. I hadn't thought of them as stars - but it is an interesting though - so thanks Dennis for developing that. I agree that the spots on the bird need to go - and I think in future if people ask me - they will be stars!
Jackie, I haven't done much with B&W conversion, but I like what you have done here, so will definitely be trying it myself.
I assumed that those were water drops flying around and I think they are fine as they are. My only suggestion was going to be using the sponge tool to desaturate the underwing areas that are rather blue in color. It would make those areas white like the rest of the gull. I do like the stars concept though, and wonder what Topaz Star Effects could do with those droplets...
"It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson
I like the dramatic lighting! Also, the position of the bird, the specks of light in the bg that look like stars, especially in Dennis' version. I can feel the effort the bird is making to take off. Nicely done.
Hi, Gerald, I like Dennis' repost and also Kerry's suggestion about de-saturating the underside of the wing. I love the pose and as Anita says, the effort that is conveyed of him taking flight.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly" - The Little Prince
Striking image! I don't mind the blue tint, but if I wanted to reduce it I'd just make a Hue-Sat Adjustment Layer and bring down the blue saturation slider to taste. That's the only blue in the image so you can just do a simple global adjustment, or mask it to one area if desired. That is adjustable if you later decide it' s not quite right, or if you to do other adjustment layers that make it too much or too little. I'm leery of baking a change into a pixel layer unless its the only way.
Theme: Herring Gull Chiaroscuro
Gerald Kelberg thanked for this post
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