Theme: Heermann's Gull portrait

[Jake Levin]

At the risk of reposting something that's already been on the forum, this is a square comp of a Heermann's Gull taken last winter in California. There was a lot of stuff in the foreground blocking the body and feet, but I had the square format in mind when I took the picture, so I was only focused on the head and chest, which had a clear water background. I like to use this shot to demonstrate that even though the cameras keep improving with every year, and have now more or less left the 7D mkII behind, it still produces excellent IQ and detail with its 18 megapixels, and it still shoots more FPS than any of the 5D series! I still happily keep it around, albeit as a backup on a shoulder strap to the full-frame 5D mkIV

7D mkII, 100-400 f/4-5.6 IS II zoom, hand held
1/800 @ f/6.3, ISO 800
PS optimized

Merci,
Jake

[David Roach]

Love the composition/crop. Really works for me. The HA and SH and details are all great to me. The transition from white to dark grey in the feathers is cool. Wish it to be a skosh lighter.

[John Mack]

I like the square crop on this one. The pose and head angle are nice. Details look good.

[Dorian Anderson]

Who cares about the stuff, this is really nice! The detail is great and I like the crop as well. I might do a bit of work on the eye to liven it up a bit. Maybe brighten and strengthen/add a catchlight. You might be able to brighten the whole image a bit, it just looks a a bit flat.

[Arthur Morris]

The SQ crop works well here and the image is sharp. But yes, it is too dark. Check out the RGB #s for the brightest WHITEs. They should be at least in the 230s. If they are, which I doubt, then simply pull up the curve.

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