"Frozen Feet"
Seagulls standing on the frozen rail on South Haven, MI prier.
Seagulls standing on the frozen rail on South Haven, MI prier.
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Canon EOS-1D X
Aperture f/6.3 ISO 100 Shutter 1/1000 Focal Length 200/1 
South Haven, Michigan, US
Feb, 2021Views
2764
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Awards
Honorable Mention in Shallow Depth Photo Contest 2023
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo after an afternoon meeting in South Haven, MI. I thought I would just sit in the car at the beach. The wind was frigid! However, when I saw these seagulls braving the Arctic cold, I knew I had to join them for at least a moment to capture this photo.Time
My meeting ended at around 4PM and my next meeting was scheduled for 7PM. I took my spare time to drive out to the beach to gaze upon the icebergs that form on Lake Michigan nearly every winter. It was around 4:30PM, shortly before sunset, that these seagulls all lined up for a mini photo session.Lighting
Later afternoon in February in Michigan produces excellent lighting for photo ops. The typical cloud cover produced wonderful defused lighting. The sun sets over Lake Michigan, so the seagulls were a bit backlit. A little bump of the shadows in Lightroom really brought out the feathers beautifully!Equipment
This was shot with my Canon 1DX with my 70-200mm 2.8f lens handheld.Inspiration
This was one of those times when you "take" a photo as things just lined up nicely. Sometimes we "make" photos by orientating our subjects to the light and background. Not so here, the red lighthouse and the ice covered blue rail just all fit together nicely with my subject to produce color contrast and leading lines.Editing
As I mentioned earlier, I bumped up the shadows because the seagulls were backlit by the defused sun. I also, sharpen most of my photos in Lightroom using masking so that only the edges of the lines are sharpened.In my camera bag
Canon 1DX and Canon 7D Mark II, EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM, EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, EF70-200mm f/2.8L II USM, EF 85mm f/1.2 USM, EF 100mm f/2.8 macro USM, Lee soft and hard graduated ND filters and a 10 stop "Big Stopper" ND filter, Really Right Stuff 40 Ball head on a Gitzo tripod, two Canon Speedlites 600EX II-RT all in a FStop Tilopa Backpack.Feedback
Just keep your eyes open for those unexpected opportunities, when nature pitches you a lob to hit out of the park!!!
