Thanks a lot for all your encouraging comments and constructive critics, for taking in consideration my suggestions, critics and reposts and, of course, for sharing the massive amount of amazing images from all over the world, bird species that I have never seen before, landscapes in unknown places, creative points of view, techniques, tips, humor sense, friendship and many more things.
I specially want to thanks the personal support that I have received from several members (now friends :)) of BPN in hard moments like the recent death of my sister.
2000 posts in about one year of BPN membership makes clear that I am really happy for being part of this amazing website and that I feel like home here. I hope to be here for a looong time :p
After the storm. Kittiwake (Rissa trydactila)
The past winter we had a lot of pelagic birds looking for refuge in the coast of Huelva due to the extremely bad climate conditions in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Lots of rarities for us living in the south of Spain like kittiwakes, fulmars, great skuas, glaucous gulls, little gulls, storm petrels and many more species. It was not a great time for the birds but a fantastic opportunity for birders and photographers to see all those uncommon species.
As always, I´d love to hear yor comments and critics about this image
Congratulations, Juan. Your contribution to BPN has been fantastic and I always look forward to your critiques. The Kittiwake looks pretty battered by the storms. Colours , exposure and BG are lovely.
Congrats on 2000 Juan. Always a pleasure to read your comments a view your images.
Nice image of the Kittiwake. I like the "still wet" look", and the few drops trailing behind. Is the yellow wash normal? Excellent straight-up wing position. If anything you could decide to lighten the reflection in the eye a little bit.
Daniel and Tony, thanks for your kind words:) I think that the yellow wash in the plumage is due to small particles of organic matter because there were a large mass of yellowish algae remains floating on the water and the gulls were swimming and flying, searching for food, around it. It was not glued or fixed to the plumage because, after a few minutes swimming in a clean water area, this guy flew with no yellow evidences on the feathers. You can see more images from the same day in which is possible to see exactly the same color on the water in an old entry in my blog (http://lazumaya.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html)
Juan, Congratulation on your 2000th post! Your critiques are filled with knowledgeable information that I find most helpful!
I like the wet look also for your Kittiwake .Exposure and details look very nice and I like your wing position.BG is lovely!
Juan, congratulations on your milestone of 2000. Thank you for all your knowledgable critiques, and I have enjoyed all your images. Superb exposure, detail, and I like the softer colours in this. Lovely wing position, and a great two tone BG too. Well captured.
Congratulations Juan! Looks like you and Tony are neck and neck. How fortunate to get to see pelagic species on land. Great wing position and a nice BG. I'd lighten the face a little and tone down the whites above the feet.
Hi Juan,
First of all my condolences for the passing of your sister. I did not know otherwise I would have dropped you a mail much sooner! I am very sorry for your loss! But am very happy to see you actively participating on this site again.
I like the shot. Like the blue BG, wing position and parallel flight path. I echo dougs suggestions and I think the bird is a little ratty/yellow looking. I don't think there is a lot you can do about it though. Maybe desaturating the belly selectively would be an idea? Anyway great job on getting a shot of this rare species in land.
Juan, big congratulations on the 2000th!!! I enjoy your work very much, as well as you PP techniques, I have found in you a real nice guy and I hope we can meet someday no far in the future. Nie image, lovely detail, BG, BG colors and comp, there some hot whites bit those should be easily recovered!
Congratulations again amigo!
Congratulations on the milestone! And thank you so much since I have learned so much from you in the last year. Your comments and suggestions are always encouraging and very appreciated.
Juan, Congrats on your 2000th post. As always, a fine image shared with us. I have learned much from you, both from your comments on mine and others images and from studying your excellent art. I am sorry to hear of the passing of your sister. I hope that fine memories of time that you spent with her give you peace.
On the bright note, big congratulations for your milestone! Your work is fantastic and I enjoy viewing as much as possible whenever I can.
I like this image and would have loved a little better looking plumage and nicer light, but still the unusual aspect is what is important, the things I mentioned are in the "Would be nice to have" category.
Thank you all for the warm words, I appreciate it a lot :-) Thanks for the comments and suggestions about the image too.
I agree that I shoud tone down the whites over the tail for web presentation (they are OK in the original TIFF) and add a touch of burning to the eye area.
I do not mind about the yellows in the plumage because they balance very well with the bill color and you know how well complintary colors like blue andyellow works ;-)
2000th post
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