Was actually lying full length on my stomach to get some shots of a bunch of gulls and cormorants out on the remains of a pier, when these two landed right beside me. Had to get into a sitting position to turn around and shoot them. They waited patiently. I probably should have focused on the one in front, which might have kept the rear one more or less in focus. Oh well, we live and learn.

[jmacias]

This is a nice photo! It's quite good that they waited while you took the picture.

[Dewman]

I love the facial expression on the back gull. It reminds me of my geometry teacher in high school. Mrs. Glatke would look at me with the slightly sideways stare when I was getting a little out of line. Great capture. TFS.

[reh321]

Was actually lying full length on my stomach to get some shots of a bunch of gulls and cormorants out on the remains of a pier, when these two landed right beside me. Had to get into a sitting position to turn around and shoot them. They waited patiently. I probably should have focused on the one in front, which might have kept the rear one more or less in focus. Oh well, we live and learn.

or perhaps you could have gone to a higher f-stop .... you certainly had room to do that with a KP

[K2 to K50]

or perhaps you could have gone to a higher f-stop .... you certainly had room to do that with a KP

Well, probably should have done both, higher F stop (or 2), focus on front gull. Maybe higher ISO as well. When confronted unexpectedly with such an opportunity, excitement and "quick, take the pic" overcomes the analytical thought processes at times.

[Larrymc]

I like the back gull being in focus and the front being out of focus, nice DOF, no need to apologize. What was your focal length, BTW?

[K2 to K50]

I like the back gull being in focus and the front being out of focus, nice DOF, no need to apologize. What was your focal length, BTW?

Was using the full 300mm end of the 55-300mm PLM. Probably partly because, as I said, I had been taking shots of a group birds on the remains of a wooden pier out in the water, so that was what the lens was on, and I liked the head-only image it gave me, so left it on that.


I think I chose to focus on the rear bird because its plumage looked fuller, and so smooth. Not sure if the front gull was still a youngster, but its plumage looked just a tad tacky. Or maybe it was inside the minimum focus distance of the lens, and I had no choice!!!