Feathered morning light

This morning on my way to the bakery, I just had a few minutes pit-stop at the lakes. It was freezing cold, the lakes were covered with ice, but the 8 o´clock morning sun gave hope, that spring is just around the corner.

I got a few shots of the beautiful seagull flying around in the clear weather. Often not appreciated because we have so ridiculous many of them around, these elegant air acrobates make it out as superb photographic subjects.

These guys move fast so be sure to set a high shutter speed on your camera to freeze the movement. Also, to avoid that the birds are just silhuettes when shooting against the light sky, try overexposing your shots a little bit.

 

Shot with Canon 7D, Canon 70-200mm L, shutter: 1/1000 sec, f/6,3 ISO 320, EV: 1 2/3 overexposed

 
Shutter: 1/1000 sec, f/6,3 ISO 320, EV: 1 2/3 overexposed

 
Shutter: 1/1600 sec, f/6,3 ISO 320, EV: 1 2/3 overexposed

Although technically a flop, I quite like this image. It just doesn´t look like the other pics and the "out of focus" gives it some sense of speed and almost a dreamy effect.

 
Shutter: 1/1250 sec, f/6,3 ISO 320, EV: 1 2/3 overexposed

Here, I used a relatively slow shutter speed. The the movements are not frozen as with 1/1000 sec, which adds some movement and softness to the image.

   

Shutter: 1/200 sec, f/5,6 ISO 160, EV: 2 overexposed

Not exactly a seagull..but close..
 

Shutter: 1/1250 sec, f/4,5 ISO 320, EV: 1 2/3 overexposed