[JMitchell]

Would love your comments on this one. Apologies for copyright symbol, but I'm protective of this shot

[Markulous]

Interesting shot - did you get one of it taking the food?

[Boofers]

Looks like a good comp., to bad the bird isn't more in focus. I am on the edge of what I should protect, and if I post it here, I feel like I can make up for it some other time with my camera in hand as I can always find another photo to use and ask a question about the same subject matter. Sorry Jack, that's just what I feel about putting copy tags on web photo sharing.

[JMitchell]

I accept your comments re copyrighting, but I don't think I'll have much of a chance to take this picture again, and it's quite a particular moment, so I decided to try and protect it more than my other photos, and I hope it doesn't spoil the viewing too much


As per the image, I quite like the fact that the gull is blurred, the arm is perfectly in focus, and I think this is not a photo of a seagull, more a photo of a moment, and in this respect I don't think the bird needs to be sharp.

Mark, I did, but as the boat was moving and the light was low, I took about 5 shots, and this was the only sharp one of the woman's arm, and there was no chance of getting the bird sharp

[b.van_der_dylan]

Interesting image Jack, had me looking at it for a while. Center position of woman's arm works for me. Distraction for me is the person/watch in fg next to you - takes my attention away from the women and bird

[Charlotte]

Interesting shot, Jack ... it'd be nothing without the big "C" in the middle

You captured a fab moment, and I can clearly see that you were capturing a moment rather than an entity The bird is very blurred but is identifiable, so I think it works well.

I'm with Andrew re: the pair of arms at bottom LH corner being distracting - any way to remove them?

EDIT: If you crop off the LHS just to the left of the main arm (+ clone out a few stray hands) that cuts out all the clutter + makes a brill picture

[Rob Barron]

I sort of like it but definitely think the blurred FG arms are a big minus point, they distract from what would otherwise be nice clean lines. I know the bird being blurred is often desirable to capture movement but here it is a bit tto soft and parts burnt out so it doesn't quite do it for me.

Potentially a shot of this nature could make a really cracking image and that is where you get the most positive part: experience! You thought of an unusual approach and composition so well done for that. I have no coubt you'll try shots like this again and will probably come up with some stronger results for what you have learnt with this one

Cheers,
Rob

ps I'm with Boofers re the big C across the middle. I know some people have to protect images that they are selling or offering to mags or whatever but frankly if it has been published on a web forum they will not be so keen to purchase anyway so if you think an image is one you want to use, probably best off avoiding publishing it at all. A potential purchaser will still consider this to be published, irrespective of the big C across it.