Silver Gull

Silver Gull (Image ID 75987)
Photographed byTobey Tan on Sat 1st Aug, 2026 and uploaded on Sun 6th Sep, 2026 .
Resolution1800x1800
Viewed64
ID75987
CommentWould love some feedback on what could be improved on this monochrome image
EquipmentSONY ILCE-7RM6
FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS
Software : Adobe Express 1.0.0
LocationRoyal Botanical Garden, Victoria
This image is not available for download.
Simon Pelling2026-09-06 18:44:25Tobey

Thanks for submitting this image. I think this is a good attempt at a monochrome conversion, which gains a large of its impact from the tightness of the crop. The eye is a clear focal point, by virtue of being just about the only thing in focus in the photograph.

I am not sure the high contrast monochrome is the best way of approaching an image like this. While it brings out the shapes strongly and puts a lot of texture into the plumage, it leaves a lot of greyish tones in the plumage, and you lose the sense that this is a white bird. Also you have created a dark area in the iris, which is normally completely white.

One of the things I don’t like about this is the bokeh. When I zoom in to 100 percent, there is a weird ‘double line’ effect in the bokeh particularly in the wing coverts and the lower neck. Some parts of these areas are completely out of focus and without any details, but in other parts details in the plumage have been rendered as double lines. These lines are not obviously following the lines of the structure of the plumage. Are you using a glass protective or UV filter on the lens? I have heard that this can sometimes result in these sorts of aberrations. Alternatively, sometimes downsizing the image might introduce these sorts of artifacts.

Thanks

Simon
Tobey Tan2026-09-06 19:03:34--Thanks so much for the feedback, and yeah, I was indeed using UV filters, but it could be from the downsizing of the image too.
Simon Pelling2026-09-06 18:46:16Oh, and one further thing: when you exported your image you seem to have stripped off all the EXIF data. As a result, we can't see what settings you used in the photo, which can be useful information. You need to check the software settings to ensure EXIF data is included in the JPEG output.

Simon
Software IFD0 Adobe Express 1.0.0
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