Glowing White Gull

[Mary Stamper]

We had some spectacular light here in early February. This one challenges the dynamic range of the D2X just a bit. The upper wing edge was slightly blown and ACR was able to do a nice job of recovering it.

I darkened the sky a tiny bit. It was really, really blue to begin with, but to get enough light on the bottom of the bird required exposing the sky a little more than I would have liked, so I think my darkened version is pretty close to what it looked like.

Handheld
D2X
70-200 AFS VR @116mm
1/1000th@f4.5
ISO 200

[Arthur Morris]

Nice sky, nice position in the frame, but the face is in shadow as the sun if from the high left... Bad sun angles = too much contrast but only 100% of the time...

later and love, artie

[Fabs Forns]

Sun angle would have made this a different image. Not stressed enough. Placing in the frame and exposure good, though.

[Mary Stamper]

How would I improve the angle WITHOUT losing the wonderful sculptural texture that shows on the wings and body? That comes from the side/top lighting. Too much front/bottom lighting loses all that.

To me, the feather texture is the most important part of this.

So much bird photography (to me anyway) seems so concentrated on the head, which is a really small part of the composition, when viewed in terms of form, texture and line.

I'm very inspired by paintings of Ballet Dancers by Edgar Degas. They don't emphasize heads at all, but rather the light on the costumes and the form of the bodies and the huge "blobs" of color created by the forms and attire.

Why is wildlife/bird photography so "straight" all the time?

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Mary, I liked your image and said so. When photographing birds or other creatures viewers tend to make eye contact first... In your image, the biggest problem is that the whites are overexposed. (Just confirmed that in Photoshop). Actually, any time that the sun is out and a bird flying overhead is flapping with the wings arced, the lighting will be uneven. I dislike that effect so much that I do not bother to make images unless the bird starts to glide or soar with the wings flat. The best case for your image would have been cloudy bright. If you like your images with overexposed whites I am fine with that.

later and love, artie