Seagull on CT River

[KimC]

This was my first time playing with my new 70-200 lens today. It was only 32 degrees so you know I wanted to try it bad considering my bum arm/hand get paralyzed when cold ;-) This was shot on aperture priority/hand held.

ISO 800; 195mm; f5.0; 1/8,000

[ShaneS]

I like it Kim! You might be able to coax some more detail out of his white feathers with a little dodging but the focus look good!

I like the composition but might consider a tighter crop from the top (removing the shoreline in the background) and the left side.

My shoot this morning got rained out but I was only risking tropical humidity and mosquitoes which is much better that frozen extremities! I hope that you had something or someone warm waiting for you when you got home

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[Mike Buckley]

I like it Kim! You might be able to coax some more detail out of his white feathers with a little dodging but the focus look good!

Agreed. Also possibly a reverse S-curve and some Local Contrast Enhancement. By the way, the depth of field is quite nice, especially for your first use of your new lens.

Why were you shooting at ISO 800? ISO 100 would have been at 1/1000 shutter speed, which would have been plenty fast enough even if you weren't using the image stabilization.

[NorthernFocus]

Nice placement in the frame and good use of DOF. Good techs with more potential as mentioned by others.

[Stagecoach]

Nice image Kim.

I like the positioning of him and also the blue sheen on the water. Perhaps a bit of ACW rotation will help, placing his legs vertical and levelling the shoreline as well.

Grahame

[JR1]

Like the oof background it makes the shot

Actually there is no such thing as a "sea gull",

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoveranden...ies/gulls.aspx

[IzzieK]

Very nice Kim...it looks lonely even though they never really are. I like your composition here.

[KimC]

Good morning. Thanks for the comments everyone. Thanks for mentioning the straightness Grahame - fixed. Also applied PS local contrast enhancement. Interested to hear thoughts on revised version. Thanks

[KimC]

Agreed. Also possibly a reverse S-curve and some Local Contrast Enhancement. By the way, the depth of field is quite nice, especially for your first use of your new lens.

Why were you shooting at ISO 800? ISO 100 would have been at 1/1000 shutter speed, which would have been plenty fast enough even if you weren't using the image stabilization.

Hi Mike. See the revised image. As for the ISO... I'll chalk it up to being way to excited about my new gear... yes, I could have/should have brought the ISO down.

[Mike Buckley]

As it turns out, applying a reverse S-curve was required first for the Local Contrast Enhancement to have enough effect. When you review my version, consider that I spent less than 30 seconds applying the two adjustment steps, which is an insufficient amount of time at least for me. Even so, the revision gives you an idea of the direction I would have gone with this image if I had put more time into it.

I applied the two adjustment steps only to the head, neck and torso of the bird.

[Mike Buckley]

I'll chalk it up to being way to excited about my new gear... yes, I could have/should have brought the ISO down.

This is the kind of photography in which using Auto ISO in combination with Aperture priority works perfectly. I use it almost all of the time I'm not doing studio stuff.

You could have set your camera ISO to 100. Your Auto ISO could have been set to a maximum ISO of 3200 or whatever you prefer and minimum shutter speed of 1/400 or whatever you prefer. If you had used those parameters, we now know from your EXIF data that the camera would automatically have used ISO 100 and 1/1000. If you had instead set the Auto ISO minimum shutter speed to 1/800, the camera would automatically still have used ISO 100 and 1/1000.

The aspect I like most about using Auto ISO is that I don't have to keep track of all the variables while in the heat of the battle, so to speak. The camera automatically uses the lowest ISO that is possible within the combined constraints of the scene and parameters I have configured.

[bnnrcn]

Lovely image Kim

[IzzieK]

I still prefer the first one with the foreground Kim...that is just me...

[planewood]

Hi Kim,
I like the first image the best. I like the background, sharpness, mood, etc. Very well done, IMO.