Herring gull portrait

The Story:
Sometimes you just have to take what's on offer. Last weekend I missed out on photographing osprey in Scotland during a 4-5 day trip I planned but had to cancel last minute. Determined to do some photography I arranged to me a friend for a one-day jaunt onto the Farnes- up a 5 am, arrived at Seahouses four hours later, boat cancelled. Deep joy.

After a coffee together and an 'old-git' style moan about the state of . . . well, everything, really, we went our separate ways. Resisting the temptation to just go home, I ended up at a spot I hadn't visited for years. Spent about 2 hours with some herring gulls - got this. C&C, good bad or ugly, happily received.

Cheers,
Chris

1Ds 3
300 mm
1/800 @ f11
Hand held
FF

Hard luck on the farnes boat, this is a nice portrait of this handsome gull,detail is good and love the eye

Nice portrait of this herring gull. Good sharpness.

Great detail in the head and beak, looks quite fierce mid-call. Not sure about the OOF foreground at the bottom of the frame and might crop a bit more of it off?

Love the detail in the bird but i must agree with magnus: i am not sure about the foreground either.
Rene de Heer

I like that, the foreground and the dark sky really concentrate your attention on the face and that heavy old bill.
Eric

Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated. I also wondered about the foreground.
Cheers,
Chris