[wayney]

Took these on the way home from work. Couldn't resist, beaut day.



Gull standing on a pole



Just another seagull

[muzza]

Hey Wayney,

Good shots. Number 2 is fantastic...the seagull really stands out against the grass. I think the metering on number 1 is a little off though. Seems a bit too dark for my liking!

Good job with the new camera though!

[Petographer]

I love #2. Very nice shot. #1 though? What is with that sky? Vanilla sky maybe?

[wayney]

Petogapher, sunset through clouds

[Petographer]

Petogapher, sunset through clouds

Makes sense.

[guerito]

Hehe, the seagull in #2 looks like she's got the hump.

Great shots, Wayney! I actually like the lighting in #1, even though it's off.

[shuttertalk]

Way to go, wayney! #2 is awesome in my books. Perfect DOF - sharp where it counts.. and love the grass texture. The colours are rich and saturated too.. nice!

[wayney]

Thanks for your comments any suggestions on cleaning up #1 ?

[shuttertalk]

I boosted the exposure a bit, and straightened the horizon, and did some minor cropping.



I think it's a very nice composition.

[wayney]

:o That does look a ton better !

[guerito]

May I suggest to leave the sky and the water untouched? The colors are too precious to bleach them. With a treatment only in the lower part it would look like this:



I didn't do anything else like straightening as ST has done this perfectly well.

[wayney]

G, did you do that using layers ?

[guerito]

No layers necessary actually, I just selected the lower part with a feather of 20 pixels and then applied "Shadows/Highlights", strength 20 if I remember right.

Edit: I do use layers almost for everything even when they are not needed, because this gives me a great flexibility when playing with a picture. If you apply all your changes in a layer, you can simply delete it if you don't like what you've done. Much faster than going back in history. Also, if the effect is ok but too strong, you can simply change the opacity of a layer to have the original shining through. Layers are great!

[wayney]

I like what I see, I probably should do more post processing and stand up stright when I take my photos ;P I have a definate left bias and am in need of alignment

[guerito]

The course and the bliss of digital: You don't have a proper viewfinder (I have yet to find one that compares to the Nikon F801 film camera viewfinder), but you can edit the pictures easily!

Even though I have a sort of grid in the viewfinder, I hardly ever get the horizon straight. It's not much of a problem unless you have water or buildings in the picture. If you have, then everybody will notice. Sometimes it's really difficult, if you take pictures of a lake, for example. The lake might have a shoreline leading slightly into the distance, but in the picture it will simply look slanted.

[Peted]

Seagulls, penguins and pelicans are such willing subjects, I never tire of them. A friend sent me some shots she took on an island somewhere south of the Falklands last year and the Kings and Gentoos just scream to be photographed.

Your shot of the gull on the grass is really great. Not easy getting good shots of white feathered birds.