Ring-billed Gull

Gallery: AvianPosted October 5, 2009536 views28 comments

Larus delawarensis

This Ring-billed Gull was taken January 6th, 2009 at a county park near where I used to live in Fl, the same day as my recent post titled "Elegant Forster's Tern".

It was an amazing morning, some type of bait fish was running off of the gulf coast and flight shots were my mode of the day because so many species were feeding on the bait fish.

The clouds made the light that day very changeable and I rather like the way this image turned out because of the light.

This did have one more OOF bird that went behind the Ring-billed Gull's head, I cloned it out.

D200, HH, standing on the shoreline, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 200, 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, 75% of the original image, cropped to pano because I liked it that way.

I left the very OOF birds in the image because I enjoy seeing them in this image.

As always, I sincerely appreciate your comments & critiques, thank you for looking.

Comments

28 comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on October 5, 2009 at 4:28 PM

excellent head turn and the OOF gulls behind are a nice touch. The fact that the OOF birds are "below" your subject give a sense that this is the lead gull.

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on October 5, 2009 at 4:31 PM

Lia, I see nature photography, and more specifically bird photography, as a form of art, and I see myself as an artist. A new and inexperience artist, yes, but an artist. You too are an artist. And this image is far more than just a picture of a gull in flight. It is a work of art. I see this quality in almost every one of your images. Your ability to take nature, see it, and capture it in a way that transends the focal object itself. I hope that some day I will reach this level of seeing, of artistry. Thanks for continuing to inspire me to be a better artist/photographer. Super image.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on October 5, 2009 at 5:40 PM

There's a lyrical quality to this - light, airy, buoyant. I think the OOF gulls in the BG add to that quality, and its nice to see them included in the composition when others might have gone for a more sterile single ssubject composition.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Strand on October 5, 2009 at 5:42 PM

I agree with Lukes comments, a great shot with that head turn. Also love the cropping and comp.
Well Done Lia!

Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments

Comment posted by Ravee Wattanatanak on October 5, 2009 at 5:56 PM

Great shot Lia. I like the head turn.

Registered on December 12, 2008, 105 Posts, 786 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Saunders on October 5, 2009 at 7:44 PM

You've taken the worlds most common Gull and turned this into a lovely photograph Lia . Bravo

Registered on February 6, 2008, 321 Posts, 3035 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on October 5, 2009 at 8:02 PM

I like the sense of floating that the gull shows. The three other gulls add balance to the image.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments

Comment posted by David Sparks on October 5, 2009 at 8:29 PM

Lia:
I like the pano crop, the spacing of the OOF birds, the tail spread, dangling feet and head turn of the Gull, and the detail in the main subject. The sky color does seem to work well with this image. Neat capture.

Registered on May 26, 2007, 290 Posts, 4270 Comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on October 5, 2009 at 8:47 PM

A really nice dreamy image. I do think that a crop on the right would suit this more since he's looking to the left. That's just my opinion, though, as this is great as is. Sharon

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on October 5, 2009 at 9:14 PM

It's easy to see that your images are reflecting genuine artistry in photography, Lia. This is certainly a beautifully composed image. The head turn and the OOF other birds are outstanding. One thing that is peculiar are the little bits of off-white near each wing tip. Because the sky color is so close to the off-white my first impression was that there was some kind of glitch in the pixels of the image. You might consider increasing the contrast of those little bits just to clearly distinguish them from the sky. Anyway, just a very minor detail. Beautiful image, Lia.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on October 5, 2009 at 10:05 PM

Well seen and composed, Lia. The symmetry in the three oof gulls definitely makes this image out of ordinary. The main gull's pose and head-turn are outstanding and techs exemplary as usual. Great artistic composition overall providing a nice sense of space.

Thanks for digging this out.

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments

Comment posted by Floris van Breugel on October 5, 2009 at 10:52 PM

Simple bird, but boy the pose and OOF background birds add so much to this! Love it!

Registered on December 19, 2008, 306 Posts, 4840 Comments

Comment posted by Ajit Huilgol on October 6, 2009 at 1:29 AM

Beautiful flight image, Lia, but do I like the oof birds in the bg? I'm not sure.

Registered on December 19, 2008, 302 Posts, 2055 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on October 6, 2009 at 7:13 AM

Just beautiful Lia, particularly the head turn and the three oof birds below

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Graham Brown on October 6, 2009 at 7:29 AM

Again it's your attention to detail of the composition which has made this a very interesting image of the Gull.The 3 OOF birds in the background are very effective. You've caught a very nice pose with that head turn and exposure and detail look excellent as ever. Graham

Registered on November 20, 2007, 275 Posts, 1365 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on October 6, 2009 at 10:24 AM

Excellent, Lia. Great job on the in-focus gull and the three oof birds give the impression that it's leading a squadron. The light and haziness of the bg really make this impressive.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on October 6, 2009 at 1:13 PM

Wonderful image!! I like the head turn, the light and the OOF birds too.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Avi Hirschfield on October 6, 2009 at 3:19 PM

Lia this bird looks like its dancing,
I think it all came together in this shot
excellent

Registered on November 1, 2003, 518 Posts, 2114 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on October 6, 2009 at 3:26 PM

spectacular shot, I echo what Ron B said--this is real artistry. The head turn, floating pose, and misty background takes this ultracommon bird and makes it transcendent. The 3 oof gulls behind are perfect. I think that a little more space on the left would be nice.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on October 6, 2009 at 5:01 PM

Sweet shot, Lia! Simple but effective, and the color palette has sort of a light and airy feel. I think the soft light makes it good, but I also like the head turn, as if the bird is escorting the others. Compositionally though, I would suggest that you could use a bit more negative space below the dip of the lowest OOF wings - just seems a bit cramped down there.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Backlund on October 6, 2009 at 8:28 PM

Beautiful image Lia! The light is magical.

Registered on September 29, 2005, 252 Posts, 3380 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on October 7, 2009 at 6:09 PM

Beautiful image, lovely head turn. The out-of-focus gulls in the background add to the image.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on October 7, 2009 at 10:22 PM

What a glorious peaceful feel I get from this. I love the expression with the amazing eye and the soft yet visible birds in the bg. The light is also very pleasant. Very nice

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on October 9, 2009 at 12:05 AM

Wonderful shot Lia, congrats.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Graham on October 12, 2009 at 8:18 PM

congrats Lia, the OOF gulls make the image complete

Registered on August 22, 2006, 842 Posts, 2824 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on October 12, 2009 at 10:46 PM

Lia, I'm out of town but in checking in on my netbook I noticed your EP selection. Had to add my hearty congrats. Another uniquely beautiful image!