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Thread: Good Gull

  1. #1
    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Default Good Gull

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    Lesser Black-backed Gull is uncommon at best in Florida. I was thrilled to find an adult with two first winter birds (including the one in this image) at Blind Pass.

    Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-1D MIV. Splayed tripod. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/250 sec. at f/9.

    After photographing this young bird I turned my attention to the adult. Several others from the IPT group had joined me when suddenly the bird freaked. It did not fly, it just freaked. I turned around and noted a little old lady with blue hair and a little dog. Off the leash. The dog continued to move toward the prized gulls. The adult took flight and disappeared to the west. The two juvies followed.....

    While taking out my cell phone, I shouted to the lady: "Get that dog off the beach. They are prohibited here. I am calling the cops now." She scooped up the pooch, turned around, and went back to her condo.

    As for the image, don't be shy; all honest comments welcome.
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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Hi Artie,
    You must be posting from Japan! Nice shot of this guy.Nice, soft, diffuse light. Perfect HA and I like how he is straddling the foamy surf. I like the diagonal line created by the edge of the "foam" as well.
    Come to NS where these guys are a dime a dozen!!
    Gail

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    Wonderful image. Loved the details on the bird.

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    Great shot of an uncommon species (at least in Florida, and also not very common here in NJ). Love the comp, the HA, and of course your consistently fine techs. It's really a shame about the unleashed dogs on the beach.

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    Terrific exposure, attentive pose and perfect comp. The foamy surf makes this even more special. I love how simple and classy this image is.

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    Beautiful image Artie. I'm sure you have a series of this fella...and I'm sure you selected this one to process for the killer placement of the water foam at the feet! Normally I would remove the green in ULC, but here I love how it mirrors and balances beautifully with the exposed beach in LRC so good call in keeping it there.

    Bummer about the loose dog, that is a big problem here too....

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    Great pose. Agree with Daniel's comments as I was thinking the same about the green corner. Love the foam.
    Seems like bird photographers don't like dogs when they are immersed in taking bird pictures. Have to agree, especially as the dog was small :-)

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    Great shot. Nice pose and environment, especiallly the foam. Too bad for the dogs. Happens all the time here especially working on a bird that's not too common. Anyway, some suggestion, don't have to follow it, wouldn't it be better to have a bit of clockwise rotation? Also on my display, it felt a bit more magenta'ish. Also may be clone/heal the top left corner where there's a bit of green in the water?

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    nice exposure and details
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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Actually, as a lover of what is, I have a different take on dogs and rude folks walking on Florida beaches: if it were not for dogs and so many beach-walkers, the birds would not be anywhere near as tame as they are.... And the little old lady did not know that my bark is worse than my bite....
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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by raymklee View Post
    Great shot. Nice pose and environment, especiallly the foam. Too bad for the dogs. Happens all the time here especially working on a bird that's not too common. Anyway, some suggestion, don't have to follow it, wouldn't it be better to have a bit of clockwise rotation? Also on my display, it felt a bit more magenta'ish. Also may be clone/heal the top left corner where there's a bit of green in the water?
    Thanks Ray. See my dog comment in pane #10. As Daniel and Clemens noted, the green triangle of water upper right balances the triangular bit of beach lower right; that is why I left it. The color is pretty much neutral, and the bird is square to the world--it is the beach that is sloped and that may be fooling your eye.
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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    Great to find a rare bird and have a beautiful picture of it. We had a very similar incident when we were shooting Harlequin Ducks in Toronto.
    The only exception was that the lady's hair wasn't blue.

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Artie, I like the stately pose, excellent exposure and sharpness throughout, and the incoming foam adds interest.

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Thanks all, and yes Gail, posing from Japan. We are 14 hours (and often one day) ahead of Florida. We head for the Snow Monkeys early on Tuesday morning.
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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    Wonderful shot. I love the simplicity of it. Excellent detail, I really loke the foam, and the soft light.
    Well done.

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    The bird image is excellent (as expected) but I really like the foam and the granularity of the sand on the beach. If you don't mind, I have a few questions.

    1) Was it overcast? There's something about the overall look of the image that reminds me of what I get when I shoot on cloudy days, but I can't really put it into words.

    2) I find cropping to be tough, but from things I thought I learned on this and other sites I probably would have shaved off 1/3 or more of the space on the right. Measuring on my screen the space on the right is almost the length of the bird minus the primary feathers which seems wide. Sorry for the wide open question, but can you explain why you went fairly tight on the left but much wider on the right?

    FYI, Lesser Black-backed Gull is actually very common in certain spots in Florida, with some locations tallying literally hundreds in a day. The weird thing up and down the Eastern Seaboard is that there seem to be "hot spots" that get buckets of them like Bucks County, PA, Outer Banks, NC, and some counties in FL while many other decent gull spots get a few up to maybe low dozens. Lake Galena and Lake Nockamixon are probably less than 20 miles from similarly sized Green Lane Reservoir near me in PA, but they get high counts in the hundreds and I think my best ever at Green Lane was 14. Here's some more info about them including CBC counts in Florida and how they've been skyrocketing:

    http://www.anythinglarus.com/2011/07...-in-north.html

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Hi Paul, First off, thanks for the fantastic link. And to think that I lived in Volusia County!

    As for the image, this is full frame. A bit more room behind and below would have been ideal but when working on the ground trying to make an image when the bird strikes the perfect pose (as here) and having focused accurately it is not always easy or even possible to frame the image perfectly. Once I opened the image I loved the extra room in the frame (as well as the perfect pose and the foam) so I refrained from cropping at all. I do not like too tight. Finally, cropping should be more about feel and balance than about measuring; this one works well for me :).
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

    Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,

    E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.










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