Seagull in the sunset

pamelajean (Critique Team)

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14 Nov 2012 - 5:18 PM

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The concept is a good one, Thomas, and the nice thing is that it's perfectly natural, whereas a lot of people would take a picture of the sky and add a flying bird or two, in other words, they would manipulate a picture like this.
You captured the gull just as it was entering the light of the sun, perfect placing.
Although your sun is white, it is fine for this type of image, and at least it isn't glaring.
Your sun and gull, your main elements, are too far to the right. It might be worth your while finding out about the Rule of Thirds, a technique which would transform an image such as this. You pretend that a tic-tac-toe grid has been superimposed on the scene, and then compose the image so that the main subject of the photo is located approximately at one of the intersections of these imaginary "thirds" lines. The intersections of the dividing lines are considered points of power, and an element placed at one of these points has more eye attraction. Rules can successfully be broken, but it's important to know about them first.
Another thing to remember is that you should always consider the path of moving subjects and, generally, leave space in front of them into which they can move, and have less space behind them. Then the eye will naturally follow the path the subject is on.
What you show here is Simplicity, what some may call a minimalistic image, but with a good cloud formation, it can work well.
I have done a modification which completely transforms your original image. Firstly, I cropped, then placed the gull on the top/ left thirds intersection. I adjusted Levels and changed the hue to a golden one. The clouds could be as subtle or as dramatic as you like, and the sky could even be more blue, the choice is yours.
Pamela.

Constructive Critique!