Grey Headed Gull

[Stu Bowie]

Apologies for my absence, been a bit hectic at work - getting in the way of my photography. Here is an image of a Grey Headed Gull captured at a wetlands near the Johannesburg International Airport. The BG are distant reeds, and this was in early morning light towards the end of our winter in August.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300mm F/2.8 +2 X TC = 600mm
1/4000
F/6.3
ISO 800

Exp comp +0.33
Hand held

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Just a quick question. What appears to be strange with the eye? The front part looks strange. Like there's some dirt near the eye itself?

Great flight pose, love the topside view Stu. Fabulous light and framing.

TFS

[Ross Taylor]

Hi Stu. What a great looking gull! Very sharp and well exposed. The hue of the background is wonderful and really makes the gull pop. This is a fantastic image Stu, the only possible thing I could suggest is to slightly lighten the 2 darker background areas just right of the bird. Thanks for helping me appreciate the beauty and variety of Gulls!
Ross

[Karl Egressy]

Great flight image, Stu.
Perfect shooting angle, attractive top view and nice eye contact.

[Stu Bowie]

What appears to be strange with the eye? The front part looks strange. Like there's some dirt near the eye itself?

Thanks Akos. What you are seeing at a much smaller scale looks like part of the nictitating membrane, as per image. Thanks for your concern mate.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Wonderful flight image, Stu. Nice dorsal view with detail. Warm two tone BG sets the gull off beautifully.




Geoffrey

[gail bisson]

I just love the light you get in SA. Great topside view and thanks for showing the close-up of the eye. I was wondering what was going on when I first viewed it.
Excellent sharpness and killer BG.
Good one Stu!
gail

[dankearl]

Gorgeous.......

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack for all the feedback and comments everyone.

[William Dickson]

The Gull stand out so much against the BG, it makes this image look so good. Fab flight pose Stu. Love it.

Will

[Grace Scalzo]

This is nice! Very pretty gull against a nice background.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Would be an easy fix on a RAW (if you are OK with retouching) and also to remove the dark ridge, which kind of looks "dirty". Though the eye is most important.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks Akos. Im fine for retouching, and agree, not a big issue to have sorted it out. Great job from your side showing what can be done.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - What gorgeous light and bg. Nice topside view too. Thanks for explaining about the eye, I also thought it looked off when first viewed.

TFS,
Rachel

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Perfect exposure, sharpness, bird placement and comp. The light is indeed gorgeous and so is that BG color. TFS Stu.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Stu! I like the exposure, IQ, banking pose and composition.

[David Salem]

Perfect!!