Got There Before Me

Cool story, and a good capture. It's cool to see the soft shadow on the right, as well. The bright back is slightly bothersome to me, but it looks like you had some lighting to deal with!

Byron, neat to see this gull (Western Gull, I think?) with prey. I like the subtle shadow on the right also. I do like that you got the reflection, but probably would have tried shooting vertical to get the wingtips in too. If you have them from a previous shot, maybe you could add canvas and match them up. Shooting gulls in directional light like this is definitely a challenge--here it looks like the sunlit whites are a little overexposed.

Byron, I like the action here and the color of the water/sand areas being grey to match the bird. I definitely would have shot this verticle to get the whole bird and reflection in the shot if this were mine. Although the reflection is nice, and as a rule I always pay attention to reflections, I would almost never sacrifice getting the entire bird in the frame to get the reflection. The main subject is almost always more important than the reflection IMO. Of course, this is just my opinion and a suggestion, so please take them that way. This is a tough exosure and whites on the top of the head and the back do look too bright, as no detail is dicernable in those areas. If I am shooting birds with a lot of white on them I almost always try and shoot them during early or late light or on a cloudy day as this makes holding the highlights so much easier while still getting detail in the darker areas of the bird. Cheers.