Audouin´s gull (Larus audouini)

[Juan Aragonés]

I love this flight. Love the strong contrast between the white of the gull and the intense, deep blue, of the sky. I like the turning of the body in relation to the head and the stare of the bird.
I do not like the fact that I forget to rotate the lens to get a vertical image (this is a crop of a landscape format). I do not mind about the clipping of the wing tips, in fact I like it. I think that the images has a more strong graphic power with the wing tips clipped. The whites look hot but the hottest pixel in the image is on the level 249 but I know that many of you will consider the whites very bright. I agree but I like the effect :D:p

As always, your comments and critics are highly appreciated and needed ;)

Nikon D300 AFS Nikkor 500VR handheld, crop to vertical, ISO400 f7,1 1/1250, manual exposure

[Ilija Dukovski]

Looks like once in a lifetime shot to me.
Congratulations!

[Joe Senzatimore]

You critiqued your image very well. I LOVE the comp on this. One time when breaking the rules works.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Interesting effect. I'm wondering about cropping a bit from the right? Just something to try. I would also either clone out or crop out the tiny white spot almost touching the frame above (on the black feather). Did the horizontal also have a clipped wing (or two?). In any case I like this alot - it's good to try stuff, especially when it works well :-)

[Fabs Forns]

I love the pose and don't mind the warm whites at all. IF this were mine, I'd crop off the right side o he iage for a stronger (IMO) composition.

[Hugh J McLaughlin]

Clipped wings are no problem for this type of image. Kudos on keeping the head in focus.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Fab's repost certainly makes this one more powerful. Love the pose and eye contact but the sky is too dark for my taste.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey Fabs, when I suggested this earlier this is exactly what I had in mind. Looks good! :-)

[Doug Brown]

I don't mind the clipped wings at all. I do prefer the composition of the repost by Fabs but I like the original sky color better.

[Fabs Forns]

I don't mind the clipped wings at all. I do prefer the composition of the repost by Fabs but I like the original sky color better.

Doug, I didn't do anything to the sky, just cropped :eek:

[Phil Ertel]

What a interesting pose, I like this image. I also think the clip wings wok here; epically since both are clipped about the same. In my opinion, Fab's repost improves the image. Good show!

[Harshad Barve]

I love tight frames, this is so good
The way bird is looking is just awesome, For me whites are not hot
Thanks for sharing
Harshad

[Juan Aragonés]

Thank you all for the suggestions and critics.

I didn´t considered the option of croping a bit on the right side of the frame in the way that Daniel and Fabs suggested but I like the idea... yes, I like it a lot :)

Daniel, no croping at the top or bottom, clipping is exactly the same in the RAW file and I was lucky enough to get a perfect vertical pose of the gull (no need to rotate the horizon).

Juan Carlos regarding the color of the sky.... querido amigo, ese tema no es negociable :D:p
I see what you mean but I am really happy with the intensity of the blue sky (it is due to an emotional reason but not a rational reason). In the RAW file the sky is lighter because I decided to overexpose the image to save as much details as posible in the shadows of the back (whites can be saved in RAW conversion much better than blacks without noise issues) but I processed the sky having in my mind what I saw and that was a really intense blue mediterranean sky.

I have another frame in the same series with the complete wings a nice banking pose but when I saw this image I realized that this is the ONE in the series that I like the most.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to comment

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I really love the banking pose and the repost does indeed look stronger Juan.