Ring-Billed Gull RePost

Gallery: AvianPosted October 5, 2015119 views5 comments

My trip up to Whitefish Point Michigan was a disaster for bird migration. Strong easterly winds stopped bird migration and the expected water bird diversity did not develop. On Sunday, the sun came out and the wind died down and a few migrants were present, but way out of range for photography. A subadult ring-billed gull showed up begging for food and it landed about 8 feet away expecting a snack from the water bird counter. I took a whole series of shots with this one backlit. I worked with some masking layers to bring out the color of the eye, eye-ring, and bill. I also reduced the amount of blue in the shadows. The halo around the bill is from the strong sunlight coming from the backside of the bird. K5 IIs, 600mm f3.5 (1/1250sec at f8, ISO 640) Highlight reduction and increase in shadows and contrast and reduction of saturation in blues and aqua in LR. Topaz Detail feature enhancement and TK's Make It Glow for selective enhancement of color in eye and ey ring................................Jim

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on October 5, 2015 at 9:38 PM

Sorry the trip didn't work out, Jim, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I like the gull portrait with that neat eye. Excellent detail in the plumage.

devil

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

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on October 5, 2015 at 10:48 PM

An interesting portait of this Ring-billed kid, Jim. For me, the adjustments to the shadowed part look a bit unnatural; The brightness of the light on the upper 20% of the bird's head doesn't contrast enough with the lightly shadowed face. Nice detail, though.

Sorry fall migration got blown out.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on October 6, 2015 at 8:34 AM

Thank you Dennis and Jim. I re-worked the RAW file by increasing exposure, adjusting highlights down, and increased the strength of the blacks. In Cs5, I used Curves to enhance contrast and reset the black point with Levels. This image has a little more depth and may generate a little more interest. I also thank the subject that was extremely cooperative and provided some humor by perching as close to us well within the minimum focus of the 600mm crying .......................Jim

Registered on January 17, 2004, 705 Posts, 3594 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on October 6, 2015 at 10:11 AM

Sorry to hear that your trip didn't bring all you expected. Reminds us that nature has it's own way enlightened . A pleasant portrait though ! Cheers, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on October 13, 2015 at 12:24 PM

Nice portrait and ver nice work processing the backlit shot. Ray

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments