While out at one of our local ponds things were really slow when a gentleman and his young son showed up with a loaf of bread, kind of saved the day. So as they fed the gulls I clicked away this is one of the images I was pretty happy with. My techs could be a bit better (lower ISO). Canon 20D w/ 200F/2.8L, F/8.0 @ 1/6400 sec, ISO 400, +2/3 ev comp, manual exposure 90% full frame.
I like the way the sun is illuminating just the head, and also the dangling feet. Whites are well controlled and there is enough shadow detail in the wings, although I suspect you could bring out a little more shadow detail if you were so inclined. Good job!
Well, with that shutter speed at least you ensured to freeze the movement! With your shorter focal length you can afford to photograph with a lager aperture from close range (such as f/2.8 here) without sacrificing too much DOF. I like the blue sky at bottom and URC.
Wayne nice position and good head angle on this bird. A touch of fill flash would have given you a bit more detail in the shadowed underwings but still a pleasing image.
I like the head position and light on the head, Wayne. Image looks too dark to me with nothing touching the right of the histogram. A little more than +2/3 exp comp if often need for birds against a sky. I have adjusted levels to get a bright white and moved the midpoint to the left to open up the shadowed areas. This introduced some noise so I did a pass with Noise NInja. I could see a significant green cast under the wings (?shot over grass) so neutralised the midtones with curves. Not sure what you think
Excellent repost by Tony; thank you sir and for your membership support as well. The orginal post is way too dark. Go back with some bread on a cloudy day with flash and the results will be much more pleasing. (I am not a fan of the dark shadows even when the EXP is correct.)
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Thanks a lot everyone for your kind feedback and most especially Tony for taking the time to edit my image and explain what he had done much appreciated
Ring-billed Gull
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