Gulls at Sunset, Looking for feedback

Adour

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San Diego, CA
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ljandclare.smugmug.com
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Hi all,

With all the unusual fog and cloud down here in San Diego I thought I would see if it would give some good sunset conditions.

I managed to get a collection of shots as the Gulls were landing right as the sun went below the marine layer, this is the best one (although I think I will put 3 or so together in a sequence).

What I would like to know is which edit people prefer; the first has some heavy natural vignettes which darkens the mood quiet a lot and I think may be a distraction for the eye into the right of the photo. The second is a tighter crop removing some of the vignette. Anyway, thank you for looking and feel free to C&C.

Thank you,

LJ

1.
428635029_Fyfpq-L.jpg


2.
428635360_bjejF-L.jpg
 
Last edited:
I like the second one the best the clouds that stretch all the way across is pretty cool.
 
Thanks for the comments,

I looked at sharpening the bird, but because it is a silouette it looks very false with even a slight sharpen.

I see what you mean about it being distracting in the second shot, and I think this is mostly due to the tighter crop. I may have to work on reducing the vingettes in the original size to prevent the blur on the gull becoming distracting. hmmm.

LJ
 
I'm afraid, it is just too obvious - and it is so in both versions - that you missed to focus properly on the bird, which is your primary subject, the sunset sky only serving as your (admittedly nice) background. That would have made this photo a "blooper", if it were mine, and I'd have thrown it away.
 
Yep, I think you are right. As a side note, the birds were never the subject but just happened through a series of shots and gave me an idea.

Thank you all for the honest C&C, it is appreciated.

For practice I completed the set (The initial comments prompted me to do some proper post processing on the shots) and here is the what it came out like:

LJ

428780467_FPSDS-XL.jpg


Ps. Having edited properly I am actually now quiet embarassed by the inital post :( All part of the learning process...
 
I love the first frame of this. Great composition and pose for the bird. It's "just right"!
 

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