It was a quiet morning that time out, but when that happens there are always gulls to save the day. This young individual had just taken a bath, and was still quite wet. I knew right away this would make an interesting backlit subject as the sun was still low...and when it began preening it was just an added bonus :-)
canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/2000s., f/9, ISO 400, handheld, small crop for comp, deepened the blacks (the image was ETTR with s some detail visible) and upped the saturation/WB to match what I remembered of the colours.
The second I saw this image I loved it :) The silhouette is very nice, but the details in the backlit feathers really make the shot, in my opinion.
Composition, exposure, and saturation look great to me as well. I do see some noise in the orange. A little NR would be the cherry on top of the cake, as I see it.
Congratulations on wonderfully creative and inspiring shot Daniel!
a pleasure to view Dan, the preening behavior is enhanced by the feathers on his head and neck. I really like the separation and also the contrast. The color is fabulous! sweet image.
Wet Ring-billed Gull Preening.
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