Juvenile Ring-billed Gull at Sunrise

[Ross Taylor]

I shot this photo at sunrise, on a beach of the Ottawa River, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.


Crouching in the water, I handheld my Canon EOS 7D mkII and EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens. Settings were f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 200, 400mm. Shot RAW and processed in Lightroom.


Cropped to about 75% frame width for composition. Processed for tone. Applied noise reduction to the foreground and background.


I very much welcome and appreciate your critiques - Thanks for having a look!


Ross

[gail bisson]

Great light, perfect head angle, lovely blue BG and FG and excellent IQ.
Whats not to like?
I might be tempted to crop up from the bottom-just enough to remove the little bit of reflection at the very bottom of the frame.I would also dodge the blackish lines in the FG water.
The wavelet in front of the gull is nice. And the fluffed up feathers add a bit of interest to the gull.
TfS
Gail

[Diane Miller]

Gail said it for me -- very nice! The gull feels a little far back in the frame for a static pose. I'd have a look at removing a little from the left. If you want to preserve the aspect ratio I could see some coming off the top and bottom.

[Ross Taylor]

Thanks Gail and Diane!

I agree, the dark wave lines at the bottom of the frame were prominent. I cropped one out, and lightened the other. The new crop brings the bird more forward in the frame too.

How does this repost look?

Thanks so much for having a look and commenting.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Ross, lovely low perspective, and just love the light. Good DOF on the Gull, sharp, and I do like the warm colours from the light. Your repost rocks.

Gotta love all these Gull images.

[Diane Miller]

Perfect, for me!

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the low angle, light, sharpness, wave and composition of the repost looks great. Excellent image Ross!

[Grace Scalzo]

Beautiful work and the comp of the repost is very pleasing. Nice eye contact.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Wonderful light, great low angle. I prefer the repost. Thank you for sharing, Ross.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice light, detail and excellent POV, Ross.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The repost looks good to me too, Ross. Sweet light, good head angle, nice low perspective. Good job lighting the line and keeping it looking natural.

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful light, good POV, nice pose. I was fine with a bit more room in front of him, but removing/toning down the dark lines in the repost is a definite improvement. Very nicely done.

[Ross Taylor]

Thank you everybody for your help and encouragement :). Ross