RB Gull

[Fabs Forns]

Another one from last week's IPT, captured at Estero, baited. IMO, it's all about the sky in this case.

Model: Canon EOS 50D
Lens (mm): 100 (100-400L)
ISO: 400
Aperture: 6.3
Shutter: 1/2000

[Randy Stout]

Fabs:

Great clouds as you say, with lovely soft light, just enough shadows to give definition to the bird. Nice pose, wing position, like the head clear of wing.

Perhaps a bit of noise creeping into the background.

Alfred is quite the pied piper of gulls:D

Cheers

Randy

[Fabs Forns]

Perhaps a bit of noise creeping into the background.


Randy

You have a point there, Randy, I didn't use any noise reduc and this is the noise machine I was using.
Thanks for pointing that out. It shall be corrected!

[Todd Frost]

Exposure and detail look good. Sky definitely makes this one. Bg noise addressed. TFS
Todd

[John Chardine]

Fabs- of course one of my favourite birds because I did my masters research on this beast.

I love the way the bird looks like it's just hanging in mid-air. Love the foot and wing angle. The sky is very nice because the tonality is balanced so well with the bird. Did you do anything to it or is this out of the camera?

[Fabs Forns]

Fabs- of course one of my favourite birds because I did my masters research on this beast.

I love the way the bird looks like it's just hanging in mid-air. Love the foot and wing angle. The sky is very nice because the tonality is balanced so well with the bird. Did you do anything to it or is this out of the camera?

Thanks, John, I'll say what I did: some cropping for compo, multiplying the whites on the bird's right wing, even though the histogram looked fine, they could look blown in some monitors. And a little "dodging" that I just learned from Tim Grey on the belly. I should have used noise reduction, but forgot.
Resizing and sharpening for web. I did not use levels, curves or any form of contrast to protect my whites.
We had a blast with them at Sanibel Beach, where they were getting clams and dropping them to crack them, lots of images of flight with clams and eating, the red really showing.

[Jim Fenton]

Whites look absolutely perfect on my end although the sky looks a little too dark here...unless that was a storm cloud background which is accentuating the clouds....and the more I look at it perhaps that's what it is which would then make it OK (I'm reasoning with the female side of my brain this evening).

Sharpness is just right.

Subject has a bit of a pained expression?

[arash_hazeghi]

Nice pose and wing position Fabs, nice BG too. just needs some NR in BG :)

[Don Lacy]

Hi Fabs, Love the angel pose and the clouds in the bg, well done.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Fabs, the gull just pops so well from the superb cloudy sky BG. Good job on the whites, and you nailed the sharpness too. Well captured.