Can You Hear Me Now....

[Joseph Przybyla]

Yesterday Dottie and I went to Ft. Desoto in Pinellas County, Florida. This is not the most attractive showing of a Laughing Gull. I guess some will like it, some will not, but how often do you get to see the inside of the mouth and tongue. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/1000 F/8 Matrix Metering ISO 560 AWB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped for composition and presentation

[gail bisson]

Very nice portrait of the gull. Not sure if that qualifies as a shorebird?
The exposure is perfect and IQ excellent.No nits with the comp.
I wish there was a catchlight in the eye.I see a hint of one so I would enlarge it and brighten it a bit.
This is a great educational shot that shows the anatomy of the mouth really well.
Gail

[Joseph Przybyla]

Gail, thank you for viewing, commenting and suggesting an improvement. Catch light an easy fix, there was a hint of one to work with.

Theme moderators, if you do not consider gulls to be among shorebirds please remove the Theme before my title. Thank you.

[Bill Dix]

Well, I guess you do see them on the shore. A unique look, with good comp and exposure.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Joe, your Gull is fine to stay within the theme, as they do forage on beaches. Love the wide open beak here - tonsils and all. Well exposed on the blacks and whites, and I like that you have enhanced the catchlight. I would try and lighten the eye too.

[John Robinson]

As Stu says- great exposure on the blacks and whites. Interesting shot. I can see how they get big fish down now !!
John

[christopher galeski]

nice capture,good detail,good exposure,repost better with eyelight.TFS.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Joe, a bit more to your right so you really would be looking straight down, would have been awesome. However, you would then need to think about your DoF as you know where you FP would end up, so more doF would have been require. Again, just my impression, but I feel the back of the throat would have been a bit more in shadow, did you lighten it? Having the catchlight in the RP helps, but personal taste, it does standout, perhaps reducing the strength may be better, just a thought?

TFS
Steve

[Ritesh Nangare]

Great portrait of the gull.
Love the detail in both Black and white the open beak is plus here and the upper part of touch looks fabulous

i loved it personally .....

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated.

Steve, the exposure is as it came out of the camera, did not move the exposure slider. I did a slight burning and highlight reduction on the brightest whites on the chest. No lightening of shadows inside the mouth, I did clean up a couple specular highlights inside the mouth that were distracting. Thank you for viewing and commenting.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Joe, had to ask.