Gull panning shots

[Shotbycurtin]

Had a bit of a go at some panning shots of some gulls with low’ish shutter speeds. Had a bit of critism about the backgrounds being too distracting. Be interested to get some feedback on the shots especially those for and against the backgrounds.

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[edt]

nice images, I need to try this more often!

 

[Shotbycurtin]

nice images, I need to try this more often!

Thanks Ed, any thoughts on the backgrounds?

 

[edt]

Personally, I like the background, especially the first one. I think it would be worth a go to try tilting the images so that the gull is flying level. I wonder if the image might then take on more of a restful, quieting effect...? Worth a try I think. EDIT--in my earlier haste I didn't realize there were 6 different images. My fav is the first one, that's the one I like level. I like the "white on white" look.

 

[Shotbycurtin]

Here you go. Processing is a bit rough and ready on these two as I did them on my iPad using basic editing.

 

[nick_s]

I like it. I can't tell exactly what the background was, but the pan makes it look like they are low flying over water.

 

[MaraLee]

The first one is especially nice, as the gull is separated from the background even with similar coloration. You could use a gradient filter on the lower portion to lighten the exposure a touch below the gull's wing if you think it's distracting, but that's up to you as the creative. The second one you might have to lighten the shadows or blacks overall, but I'm not sure I'd bother as it would take away from your subject.

 

[Shotbycurtin]

Thank Nick, Mara, appreciated. Though not wall hangers, overall I was quite happy with them. They were good fun to snap with the gulls gliding along the river to a rock out crop in the middle. Made easier with a predictable flight path! I took a few more probably with better backgrounds but faster shutter speeds. The guy who critised initially (not on here) is a bit of a purist and doesn’t believe in processing prefering the straight from camera natural look. It’s not worth even going there tbh. so I don’t lol. each to their own. Here’s a couple more but as mentioned faster shutter speeds Thanks again for your responses, much appreciated.

 

[edt]

Here you go. Processing is a bit rough and ready on these two as I did them on my iPad using basic editing.

View attachment 4794

View attachment 4795

I like both, but I like the first one, the whiter one more. you might even select the bird and mask it out, then brighten and blur the background even more. would look nice as a "vidid metal" printed on glossy aluminum! And btw, for "purists who say they prefer straight out of the camera with no edit" I would say, "wow, what's pure or organic about a digital image created with sophisticated electronics, sensors, with in-camera jpeg processing?!?" I think it's ok to use whatever tools we have available to create images, cameras, software, ink, printers, paint, paint brushes, etc.

 

[Tim Mayo]

Great work with the panning Mike! I've not tried too many slow pans with birds, really must give it a go. Personally I prefer the last two shots you posted where the gulls are against the darker background and stand out more, but that's just my taste

 

[AKVet]

The sharpness with you panning is incredible.

 

[Kerro]

They are much better with the birds flying level. I like number 5 with dark background.

 

[Dean Wilson]

Only an opinion:

1 and 3 - The background looks more natural in 3 and in 1 the rotation distracts. For me, I wonder what 1 would look like with the background rotated like this and the bird flying level?

2 and 4 - For my eye I cannot get past the rotation combined with the wing position in 2, that is, my eye thinks coasting a bicycle uphill? With 4 I feel the light of the gull contrasts great with the darkness of the background.

5 - I believe this is your strongest photo. The positioning of the Gull in the background makes the image pop. This is also enhanced by the wing dipping into the rock level. The rockbed gives the illusion the bird in flying underwater....That could be a fun edit!

6 - The background reminds me of out of focus backsplash tile. Not in a negative way. It almost appears to have a light vignette. I feel somewhat neutral about the composition regarding the background. I wonder what it might look like with an overall slight exposure boost and then a diagonal exposure reduction on both sides of the photo. I wonder if this would draw you attention to the bird and give depth to the photo?

Good job and here is the pattern I see in the background: