Herring gull

[Richard Stern]

I find gulls in bright sunlight very hard to expose correctly, but the lighting seemed reasonable for this one, Brier Island, Nova Scotia. Shutter speed just a little slow to stop the wingtip motion.

D70s, Nikon 300 F/4 AF-S, 1.4TC, hand-held.
Aperture: f/10.0
Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500)
ISO equiv: 320
Exposure Bias: -0.67 EV
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Light Source: Unknown
Flash Fired: No
Color Space: sRGB

Richard

[Randy Stout]

Richard:

I like the diagonal framing, might consider moving him a bit to the right.
It is a challenge in the harsher light to hold the whites without losing detail in the shadow areas. There are some whites here that aren't showing much detail, so perhaps a bit more - EC.
The light angle from well off to the left has left the right side of the face in shadow. You might be able to tease out a bit more there with some selective curves work.

I think the degree of motion blur is just about right here, gives a sense of movement without going overboard.
Cheers

Randy

[Phil Ertel]

Hi Richard,

I also like the strong diagonal presentation. To emphasize it even more I would crop so the wing tips are pointing directly into the corners. I also tried a bit of shadow highlight adjustment and dodging/burn to lighten the underside of the wings some and tone down the bright spot on the neck. Not big changes but something to consider. I find the bird sharp were it needs to be and think like Randy that the slight wing blur adds to the presentation. Thanks for sharing.

[Richard Stern]

Thanks, Phil -- I agree, your suggestions are an improvement. Richard