Heermann's Gull Portrait

[Patrick Sparkman]

I took this shot while laying in bird poop, about to roll off the cliff in La Jolla last week. I really love gulls, especially Heermann's in breeding plumage. I remember Artie once telling me "if you point your camera at a gull, they always do something interesting!"

Let me know what you think.

Canon 1D IV, Canon EF70-200 2.8L IS II + TC2 III at 400mm, ISO800, 1/3200 f8, Manual Exposure, handheld

[James Salywoda]

Awesome pose and capture Patrick very nicely presented.

[Dan Brown]

Great shot Patrick! Reds and whites look good and sharp overall! Guano, bird guano Pat

[Robert Amoruso]

Patrick, I agree sooner or later......

Getting the open mouth and seeing the inside of it adds interest to this handsome portrait. Though I still like' em with the mouth closed too.

I feel the image is a bit cramped. As this looks cropped, I suggest adding room. I would desaturate red some and if you are OK withe such things, clone out the specular highlights on the "U" portion of the beak.

[Stu Bowie]

Tack sharp Patrick, and just love the open beak. Some space top and bottom would work.

[Marina Scarr]

I agree on a tad more space and on cloning out the highlights, but only if you are comfortable with that. This is an eye-popping capture, nice and sharp and I love the colors and behavior.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Patrick, loved it. perfect exposure, great light, terrific sharpness, timing and colors. Wish this bird was seen here, right?

I loved tight portratis but this one is a little too tight IMO. Some room around will make it better and still keep it tight enough.

[Paul Guris]

Great portrait not just because of the technicals (which are perfect) but also because you selected such an interesting subject. Love it.

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Patrick never seen this species before. The breeding colour is so vibrant. I like the calling posture and the red ring around the eye. Nice exposure and sharpness.

[Nico Steenberg]

Great IQ and exposure. Like that open beak. Well done !

[Patrick Sparkman]

Allright, I should have know that I would be called out for being lazy.

I agree that it was a little tight, but the bottom of the original image is not cropped, and it was unbalanced without adding canvas to the bottom (that is why I cropped it so tight). It was a little bit of a pain, since the birds neck was there, but I added some room to the bottom. This let me add the room back to the top. As for the bill clean-up, I did the easy part. Now I need to work on the shiny part.

Dan,

I will be a little more careful in my word choice next time.

Guano, feces, droppings, whitewash........although none of these are the words my wife was thinking when I showed up with it all over my clothes and jacket.

[Bryan Hix]

I agree with the comments/suggestion for the first photo and I think the second post is much better. Nice job, it's a beautiful gull.

[Arthur Morris]

Sweet image. I love the elimination of the specular highlights inside the bird's mouth.

Question: was the bird poop ready to roll of the cliff or were you ready to roll off the cliff???

[Patrick Sparkman]

Yea, yea, yea Maybe both!

I put a comma there!

You were the one telling me not to fall off the cliff.

[Arthur Morris]

You? I was talking to the bird poop!