Black Headed Gulls.

[David Cowling]

I was surprised to catch these sea birds nest building on a freshwater lake.

Canon 7D Canon 100-400 L Hand Held.

1/1250 @ f 9. ISO 800.

[Randy Stout]

David:

Good nesting action, saturated colors, good shooting angle.

To my eye, the point of focus was the large post in the back, which is sharper than anything else. This renders the front bird and most of the nest a bit OOF. There is a halo around parts of the upper bird, esp. over his back.
The water seems to be suffering a bit from jpeg compression issues as it looks a bit blotchy.

If you have other frames of this scene, perhaps not as dramatic, but with the focus on the birds, would be interesting to see.

Again, very good story telling component, and interesting natural history of salt water birds nesting on fresh water.

Cheers

Randy

[David Cowling]

Hello Randy. Agree with everything you have said. The IQ is not very good and I can't explain the halo around the bird because I have not done any work to it. Here is the next frame which seems to be better to me although you may not agree and I am OK with that.

[keith mitchell]

David did like the Op showing the bird carrying it's nesting material and do agree it did look a bit soft,the birds in the repost looks better but Randy as a better eye than me so look forward to his views.

Keith.

[shane shacaluga]

I prefer the action in the first frame but the second frame is much better technically.

Whites are well exposed and there is a very nice golden light

Both birds nice and sharp on the second frame. Maybe a bit off the bottom and added to the top?

TFS

[Randy Stout]

David:

Thanks for the second image, as it is much better in all regards except the action, but I would choose it every time. Sharpness better, there is still a sense of action with the back birds wings up, matching head angles.

We all capture images that are special in some way, and we really want them to work, but sometimes there are just too many issues to make it succeed. I also fall in love with certain frames, but in the end often will let them sit for a bit after processing, look at them with 'fresh eyes' and decide if they are really good enough to post

Cheers

Randy

[David Cowling]

Thanks very much for your wise counsel Randy. I have learned from it.

David

[Arthur Morris]

Yuppers, the first frame had interesting behaviour but the second one kills it on all counts. I am shocked that nobody mentioned the different processing. The original post is way too warm with a big yellow cast. The second one has clean, crisp whites and beautifully natural blues...

Image #2 by 20 lengths....
a

[keith mitchell]

David pleased I read Arthur's input into this,did not notice till it was pointed out.

Keith.

[Randy Stout]

David:

I would consider adding a little on top as Shane mentioned, wings are a bit crowded up there.

Cheers

Randy