White birds, sunny day, blue sky made for a lovely afternoon at Blackie Spit with the seagulls,eagles,crows,and ducks on a dropping tide out over the mud flats.
D600,AF-S VR 70-300mm,0 ev,f/11,1/1000,Ap: in Aperture PP added .75 of exposure,.55 recovery,.26 of definition,pulled up shadows to 46.9, and pulled up the top end of the curve and down the lower end, crop about 50%
Yes, the gulls can be quite angelic! This Ring-billed Gull gave you a nice head turn. The flanks look burnt, I'm sure you can pull out a bit more detail or tone down the overall brightness there during raw processing. I also wish the head was not in shadow. Good details on the face though, and sure sounds like you had a great day on the beach!