Gotta get the landing gear down soon!!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Had some fun photographing some incoming Ring-billed Gulls Tuesday evening. On the very next frame of this series (which was way too soft, unfortunately) the legs and feet were completely out and ready for landing...that's how fast they were deployed!

Canon 40D + 100-400L @400mm, manual exposure (+1.7 off the pale sky, not in frame), evaluative metering, 1/1000s., f/7.1, ISO 800, natural light, handhels, cropped for comp (~70% FF). A couple of distracting OOF gulls sitting in the water have been eliminated via patch/clone tools. NR applied to BG only.

[Richard Stern]

Hi,

Very nice sharpness, exposure, angle and smooth, noise-free bg, but for me the bird looks rather odd without legs and feet. I think I would have preferred the following frame with the legs extended.

Richard

[Troy Lim]

Daniel, very nice, where are the legs? :D

[Willem Verboom]

Nice sharp and fine looking picture Daniel.

Willem

[Ben_Sadd]

Nice image, but I can't help but keep thinking that you got a little carried away with the clone tool and following removing the oof gulls took out the legs on this one ;)

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi,

Very nice sharpness, exposure, angle and smooth, noise-free bg, but for me the bird looks rather odd without legs and feet. I think I would have preferred the following frame with the legs extended.

Richard

Thanks Richard...yes, it does look odd doesn't it!:p

Nice image, but I can't help but keep thinking that you got a little carried away with the clone tool and following removing the oof gulls took out the legs on this one ;)

Good one Ben!

[Arthur Morris]

Love the perfect EXP and the killer underwing detail. The soft light is sweet but not as sweet as seeing so many members commenting! Thanks Richard, Troy, Willem, and Ben.

[stuart wanuck]

love the image

[Joerg Rockenberger]

I had the same immediate reaction as Troy: what did you do with the feet????

Pose, exposure, sharpness etc. speak for themselves. Somehow I wish to see what the gull is focusing on and about to land on. Like some features in the foreground which grounds the image. Not sure I am explaining this adequately...

JR

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Very cool exposure Daniel. Love the bg, the soft light and the detail you got in the whites.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Great pose and expo here Bhai...

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Daniel, I really like this shot. Clean complimentary BG, liked the wing position, excellent detail, exp and overall sharpness. It shows what can be done with a slower lens and AF system. Well done. If the bird flies with it's feet tucked away, so be it. Fighter aircraft don't fly about with their wheels down..the hidden feet don't bother me at all.
TFS
Grant

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Dan, excellent detail and exposure, and not to mention how tack sharp this is. I like the approaching landing pose, and against the two tone BG. The gull pops so well from the BG too. Well captured.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the wing position, detail and BG. Well done Daniel!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very nicely done! and what a bird! love the up wings and details as well as the eye contact. killer BG. Just wish for a larger image to enjoy the image better.