shot new years day, 2004, on the beach at virginia beach, after sunset.
these guys look like they just showed up to their favorite bar, only to find their favorite bartender not there...
this took a bit of post processing to get the image out. had to rotate and crop. adjusted levels and curves. added a layer for adjusting shadows/highlights (thanks for the tip, shannon!), and added a layer for selective color adjustments. thanks, also, to aznym, linda, and bob, for their suggestions! amazing what you can do with just a little guidance...
Sounds like you've already worked this quite a bit. The first thing that popped out at me (after "wow, that is a great shot of the birds") was the noise in the sky. NeatImage? I know it'd be a tough call cause you'd lose some of the detail in the clouds. Which I also think look very cool.
This is a great photo with a unique perspective. I know it's the result of pushing the photo digitally, but i really like the tone and colour of the plumage: well done! >>>favourites
I love the angle you have chosen for this one. Makes you feel like you are sitting with them. The 2 birds on the very right are a bit distracting. I like the way how they are facing and the bird one the left looking like the commander.
It does look like that processing on this one has gone a bit far. All the birds have this like going around them which look like they were imported into the shot.
What lhall said (and I think the clouds are fine). The amazing thing to me is that you have the birds so well separated (with the exception of the right edge). You could probably liven up the gulls with careful use of the Shadow/Highlight filter, History Brush and Saturation tool.
I really like this one! The tilted horizon makes it feel a little weird, and I would love to see a little bit of "fill flash", but I love the perspective and the concept.
Wonderful shot, I wish you'd fixed the horizon though. Shame the clouds weren't quite as effective as they might have been... not your fault here but if you could go back and take this shot again with better clouds, you'd have a real winner.
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