Do you love Seagulls?

Scott_Quier

These are some more practice shots. My intent was to focus on BIF shots. The birds were doing their circling action, looking for more hand-outs, so their flight path really wasn't very predictable. In a previous thread (seen here, if you're interested), Rohirrim and Harryb indicated that a number of my shots appeared to be over explosed. I looked at them again, and I believe he was correct (thanks, both of you). So, I re-worked the way I was working my photos. The following is an example of my product now.

Most of these were taken with the Sigma 80-400. There's one or two that were taken with the Tamron 28-75. So, as you can see, I'm starting to enjoy the long lens.

Any and all C&C is welcome/encouraged and, for those interested, exif is available by clicking on the image.

Thanks for looking...


#1 - Coming in for landing, gear not yet deployed


#2 - Ooops, flew too far


#3



#4 - Practicing hovering technique


#5 - Flying in formation, well, almost.


#6



#7 - Coming in for a landing, this time with gear deployed


#8 - Stand back and let me show you it's done...


#9 - "Eyes Left!"

windoze

do I love seagulls? ( you got to be kidding! )

OF COURSE I DO!


awesome images!!


troy

DanielB

#3 is amazing. great action and framing.

Steve Cavigliano

Good work Scott

These guys are not only good practice subjects for BIF focusing, but also for getting good exposure (cuz they are sooooooo white ). You did very well on these. Focus and exposure-wise

Of course we love seagulls. 'Cept when they divebomb our just washed vehicles....

Steve

Rohirrim

I know that there are those who don't like seagulls, but I'm not one of them, I think they are neat looking birds. They are very good fliers and remarkably adaptable birds.

You've done a nice job capturing them. Exposures look good. You might consider shooting in flight shots at a higher ISO, 200 or 400 to get your shutter speeds over 1/1000 consistantly. This should give you sharper images.

And if you want me to be really picky.... if you shoot your photos early in the morning or late in the afternoon then you should get better lighting on the bottoms of the birds because of the low angle of the sun.

Thanks for sharing a very picky,
Steve

P.S. if I'm being too nit-picky you can tell me to shut up anytime.

Dee

Seagulls are Cool!
They are about all we have to shoot around here until the pelicans come back.

And they really can move, so they are good practice indeed for BIF shots! My camera just won't focus fast enough for BIF so I have to be content with more predictable shots of them.

Your exposure looks pretty darn good too!

Scott_Quier

Thanks all
I want to thank all who responded/looked. My original post was intended to help me learn to do better. So, with that in mind, let me say this....THANKS:):

windoze - Thanks

DanialB - My wife has a much better eye for beauty than do I (except she married me) quite agrees with you. That image was her immediate favorite of the bunch. I've been looking at some of your work (as you post it) - I value praise from a talent such as yours.

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Good work Scott

These guys are not only good practice subjects for BIF focusing, but also for getting good exposure (cuz they are sooooooo white ). You did very well on these. Focus and exposure-wise

Of course we love seagulls. 'Cept when they divebomb our just washed vehicles....

Steve

Steve - Thanks for the vote of confidence. Really appreciate it. And, yeah, you're right about the birds being hard to do right because they are so white. I think that is part of what was screwing me up the first time.

Rohirrim wrote:

I know that there are those who don't like seagulls, but I'm not one of them, I think they are neat looking birds. They are very good fliers and remarkably adaptable birds.

You've done a nice job capturing them. Exposures look good. You might consider shooting in flight shots at a higher ISO, 200 or 400 to get your shutter speeds over 1/1000 consistantly. This should give you sharper images.

I'll give that a try next time. My first digital camera was a little P&S that I am so very aware of the potential for noise that I try just about anything to keep the ISO at 100. I guess I have to get over that (and maybe invest in a noise remedy)

Rohirrim wrote:

And if you want me to be really picky.... if you shoot your photos early in the morning or late in the afternoon then you should get better lighting on the bottoms of the birds because of the low angle of the sun.

I know about the low angle of the sun thing. Makes for some utterly delicious light. And, when I have time, I do that. Got a bad case of JOB that tends to keep me busy at that time of day.

Rohirrim wrote:

Thanks for sharing a very picky,
Steve

P.S. if I'm being too nit-picky you can tell me to shut up anytime.

Are you kidding. I said C&C was welcome/encouraged. This is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. The shots are not good enough for the WP so I figured this was a good place to get the advise/help I was looking for. And you came through in spades.

Dee wrote:

They are about all we have to shoot around here until the pelicans come back.

And they really can move, so they are good practice indeed for BIF shots! My camera just won't focus fast enough for BIF so I have to be content with more predictable shots of them.

Your exposure looks pretty darn good too!

I know exactly what you mean. On a good day and when I have get a get out of jail free card (see reference to the JOB thing above), I go to one of the number of Wildlife Management Areas in the area and get shots of things like White Egrets, GNH, Canada Geese, and all sorts of bugs.

Dick on Aruba

Great serie, well done!

Dick.