Nonbreeding Laughing Gull – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 320, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light
On occasion I like to take images where the subject; in my case it is usually birds, is small in the frame instead of nearly filling it when the background habitat is as visually interesting as the main subject itself.
On the day that I photographed this Laughing Gull either Hurricane Ike or Gustav was out near the center of the Gulf of Mexico that was churning up the water and sending large waves towards the shorelines of west-central Florida. These were Atlantic coast sized waves not the smaller, more gentle ones we were used to on the Gulf coast.
When I saw the gull standing on a shelf of sand just above the shoreline with the crashing waves behind it I liked the contrast of the calm look of the water where the bird was compared to the tumultuous waves in the background and the varied shades of blue so I backed up to allow more of the water to be visible in my viewfinder.
I like the resulting image a lot.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Laughing Gull photos plus facts and information about this species.
I love it too, you pulled these two elements together beautifully Mia.
Thanks so much for your comment Debbie.
It’s a fantastic image,I love the abrupt change from the still foreground to a turbulent background
Thanks Susan.
You’d never know a hurricane was churning out there. Beautiful. Carol
Thank you very much Carol.
I love images with the ocean’s surf in the background. At first I thought this was like a mist. Then I looked closer and saw they were waves, as you say, larger ones than the usual for the Gulf coast. I love the mood on this one.
Thanks Maria, I love the mood in this image too.
I like the resulting image, too, Mia.
Thank you Bob.
Very nice capture Mia
Thanks Dan!