Gulls C&C

Ballistics · Oct 16, 2011

Gulls by Compressed Memories, on Flickr

I'm thinking it might be a bit underexposed, but my monitor is unreliable.

momo3boys · Oct 16, 2011

I'm a noob but I like that it is a bit underexposed. It makes it look realistic, like it's a sunrise.

Compaq · Oct 16, 2011

You have a nice lighting situation going on, here. See on the logs (in lack of a more fitting word

) and on the birds you have golden light. I'm guessing this is taken at sunset, not sure if gulls are much active at sunrise (not that I'm active to observe them at that time, though!!). Either way, that's nice. Their shadows are also huge, but it's not very noticeable on the picture. It should be able to bring that out more in PS, which would help the shot, imho.

Also, I don't like that two of the birds are overlapping, having them make a triangle could be a nice element here. The composition isn't very powerful as is. Did you take more shots of the birds?

Ohh, good to see you're down to their level! Or at least apprx.

Ballistics · Oct 16, 2011

I was pretty low, but they move around a lot so I didn't have much time to adjust my vantage point.

stickboy · Oct 17, 2011

I don't necessarily like how the ones in back are softer than the one up front. Possibly a larger DoF would help. Other than that I think they look good. I like the exposure. It may be a touch low, but I still think it works.

Ballistics · Oct 17, 2011

I went for the shorter DOF for the sake that the birds in the back were "different"

Compaq · Oct 17, 2011

You had time to observe then and adjust aperture accordingly, but not time to shoot from a different angle?

My point, birds move, and the composition becomes a little random. So taking lots of shots is desireable.

Ballistics · Oct 17, 2011

Compaq said:
You had time to observe then and adjust aperture accordingly, but not time to shoot from a different angle? My point, birds move, and the composition becomes a little random. So taking lots of shots is desireable.

This is the best I could do man, sorry I couldn't get the birds the way you wanted them. It becomes turning a dial vs moving and missing the shot/scaring the birds. I went with turning a dial. This wasn't a fixed setting.