Bird

[Quo Fan]

My girlfriend and I went camping with some friends, and one morning we got up early and went to the lake to shoot. Took some scenic shots, and then we walked to another beach where we saw this guy swimming. He was quite unimpressed by us and just went about his business like we weren't even there. I got a bunch of photos of him, and worked on this one.

I cropped the shot, and played with the exposure a little. I tried to do a HDR, but I wasn't having good results, so this is what I got. What do you guys think?

[oriolhdz]

Hi Quo Fan:
IMHO I think one of the improvements you could make in next shots like this is try to get a more focused subject. Maybe is the crop you did, but it still lacks a little bit of focus. Another thing is that the color of your subjects blends too much with the water and it don't let the bird to be the subject of attention. If I’m not wrong I can see you tried to use the rules of thirds but it misses for some cm or inches the intersections points. That's all I can say, maybe others can tell you tips on shooting in cloudy weathers because it seems it was a little bit cloudy.
Thanks for sharing your photo!

[Palachandra]

Hi Quo Fan,

I agree with oriolhdz critique, your subjects blends too much with the water.

He looks disappointed and sad there. Might be he looked at you with your GF before and thinking he doesnt have one?

[odark30]

I think he needs a curves adjustment layer. Also try setting your blend mode to screen

SEAGULL.jpg