Gull Portrait

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L

1/3200sec f/7.1 ISO 100 HH

Levels, sharpening in CS5

[Sid Garige]

Excellent pose and composition Ian.
May be little more light on the eye and added bit of a catch light? let me know what do you think?

-sid

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Sid. Boosting the light really helped. I'm on ski vacation at Lake Tahoe and have spent a little time prowling for birds, but slim pickings so far with the exception of gulls and ravens.

[Rachel Hollander]

Ian - Sid's repost really makes this pop. Nice pose, comp and bg.

TFS,
Rachel

[John Chardine]

I like the idea here. Great pose. Agree totally that we need more light in the eye area. I brought the image into Ps and tried to bring up some detail but there is none in this processed version. If the original is RAW, there may be some information in there Ian. First adjust the Exposure slider in ACR and open up the image so the whites are not blown. Then try the Fill light slider to see if you can coax any detail out of the eye.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Ian, nice pose and capture. I would maybe move the bird over in the frame to the right, if you have canvas there or it would be easy to add/subtract the nice sky to do that.

I'm surprised at the high SS for ISO 100 and wonder if you boosted the exposure in PS? Your setup is exactly what I shoot with and my camera would probably expose properly at a lower shutter speed. I like Sid's re-post with the added light in the eye and head area. Might want to run a bit of noise reduction on the bg. Good points by John on the eye.

Nice preening shot!

[Julie Kenward]

Hey Ian, I felt like Sid's head area was a little overexposed - I'd tone that down somewhere between his version and yours. If there is data in that eye I'd try to pull it out - it is the only thing keeping this from being a really lovely gull portrait.

[Sid Garige]

Hey Ian, I felt like Sid's head area was a little overexposed - .

Julie,

Why do you thing my version is over exposed?

-Sid

[Julie Kenward]

Sid, it washed away almost the entire gray cast to the head. To me - and its just my opinion - it feels a little harsh or overdone. You may know this bird better than I do and, if so, I bow to your expertise. I simply felt the head lost its color and it appears fairly strong in Ian's opening post.

[Sid Garige]

Sid, it washed away almost the entire gray cast to the head. To me - and its just my opinion - it feels a little harsh or overdone. You may know this bird better than I do and, if so, I bow to your expertise. I simply felt the head lost its color and it appears fairly strong in Ian's opening post.

thanks
Sid