Noisy Grey Headed Gull

[Stu Bowie]

I liked the incoming pose, but some may find the head against the far wing distracting. You choose. Taken at a birding spot in Johannesurg. The BG is dry reeds. Extended the canvas on top to have a tad more space.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/3200
F/5.6
ISO 500

Exp Comp +0.67
Hand held

[Tim Munsey]

Marvellous, love the background and angry face!

Tim

[Tom Rambaut]

Great background.

I do find the black shadow line, or somthing, on the neck distracting.

I still like this image though.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Fantastic pose and bg. The fanned tail, that sharp eye, the open beak, the dangling feet - love it all.
BG is superb - did you perform any blur or NR on it? The whites look fantastic on my monitor (although i'm a bit surprised by the +0.67 against this dark bg)
Great job Stuart.

[Stu Bowie]

did you perform any blur or NR on it? The whites look fantastic on my monitor (although i'm a bit surprised by the +0.67 against this dark bg)

Thanks Sidharth. The BG was already OOF and blurred, as I remember the gull being separated a fair distance from the BG. All I did was run a touch of NR on the BG. With regards to the + .67 EC, I was shooting these guys in flight as well, thus exposing for their underwings. No time to change from inflight to landing shots.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

I think the tonality difference between the head and wing, plus the color of the bill, helps it succeed despite the merge. Excellent exposure, BG, calling pose.

The 'conductor pose' can be a challenge to show good detail in the wings unless the angle is just right.

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Well done on all counts as far as the techs. Love the light, the SH, and the BKGR. Had the far wing been more fully spread, the image would have been vastly improved and having the head against the wing would have been a big plus. You were just unlucky.

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all for the feedback and comments.

[Pieter de Waal]

Excellent sharpness and detail Stuart, love the BG.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent dynamic pose in sweet light and a nice BG.

[Stu Bowie]

Pieter, Arash, thanks a stack guys.