Gull Portrait

[Grady Weed]

The images lately here in Maine have been slim to say the least. We still have 4 feet of snow and ice all over. So while we were in Amesbury MA, we went to the docks and walked around the port. This Ring Billed Gull posed for 10 minutes. I decided to try to highlight the yellow eye and the red eye socket portrait style. With the bright sun and the ugly rail he was perched on I wanted to do something. What do you think?

Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, Shooting Date/Time 3/24/2008 09:29:43, Tv(Shutter Speed) 1/3200Sec. Av(Aperture Value) F11, Evaluative metering, RAW, from tripod while kneeling, Exposure Compensation -1 2/3 to darken bg while maintaining details in the whites, ISO 400, Lens EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x, Focal Length 600.0 mm.

[Steve Maxson]

It looks like you succeeded with a very sharp eye. Good details in the whites. I wish the throat wasn't in such dark shadow. A move to your right would have improved the light angle (assuming you didn't fall off the pier). :) Sounds like you are still having winter there like we are in northern MN. We have less snow, but more ice, I expect. No gulls here yet.

[Robert O'Toole]

Agree with Steve, sharp, bird is good looking, but the shadow is overpowering.

Robert

[john crookes]

Nits as noted above but I kind of like the dark look

there is a bit of noise in the bg and the beak is a tad soft

maybe a round of sharpening on the beak and a noise reduction on the bg

something like this only I did this on my laptop so no real idea as it is not the best screen