Gliding Away

I caught this shot as the gull moved past me, wings stretched in an elegant curve, pulling away from the frame almost as quickly as I brought the camera to my eye. Tracking birds in flight with the DA* 50-135 on the K-3 II is always a test of reflexes and technique, especially when the background is a shifting plane of textured water. The lens handled the contrast well, keeping the bird distinct enough from the muted greens and greys of the sea, though the fine detail in the wingtips fell just short of crisp — a reminder that a fractionally faster shutter speed might have been the better choice.

Compositionally, I let the bird fly into the space, leaving the open water ahead of it, a simple but deliberate decision to suggest motion and distance. The faint line of the cable cutting across the lower frame introduces a man-made presence into what could otherwise be read as a pure nature shot — perhaps an imperfection to some, but to me, it grounds the image in a place, rather than a postcard ideal.

Exposure was straightforward, though the overcast sky forced a compromise between depth of field and motion-freezing speed. In the end, the softness in the background works in the gull’s favour, allowing its red legs and wing markings to stand out against the otherwise subdued palette. It’s a fleeting moment, imperfectly sharp yet still carrying the sense of lightness and escape that drew me to press the shutter.