location 1 - birds in a row


How I took this shot

The photograph was shot with a 55-300 lens. I decided to frame the photo by taking it from the side so that the birds were lined up in a row, this draws your eye along the line of birds to the end where the image goes out of focus.

Assessment of the image

The high contrast colours in of this image, echo the contrasting colours on the seagulls plumage. Having the background out of focus draws your attention to the high contrast birds in a row. The use of negative space on the right of the photograph also serves to highlight the row of birds. Originally I felt the duck head at the bottom of the image was distracting and I considered editing it out, however I find that I enjoy the juxtaposition of the rather comical duck who seems to have stumbled into frame, whilst the seagulls are all lined up smartly in their uniform plumage. The duck seems to add a comical touch and makes the photograph less serious and more fun.

Possible improvements

Possibly the final bird being blurred/out of focus makes the image look less organised, I could have put the F stop up to bring the last bird into focus. I could have adjusted my position when taking the photograph so that the ends of the tail feathers and the feet were included in the picture which may have improved it.