Bailarine by Filipe Silva

Thursday, 19th July 2007

Bailarine

by Filipe Silva

In the same week in Norway and while trying to find sea eagles fishing, I spent some time with the herring gull. In some areas of the Norwegian fiords the water is very dark, so in a particular day I found a place where the sunset light touched the water at a very low angle. I decided to use a very slow speed, choosing a small aperture and tried to create a motion effect with the panning technique. The idea was to create motion and contrast between the dark colors of the water and the white color of the gull. I call this Picture: flying angel.
Till this day i didn’t realize that a very common subject like a gull could create a very simple but very powerful picture but at night while looking the pictures in my laptop I stopped at this particular picture and I learned that simple is beautiful and my best picture in that day was a sea gull picture and not a sea eagle picture.

Equipment: Canon 1dMKIIN

Filipe Silva

This portuguese nature photographer was born in 1974.
His great passion for nature has always made part of his life and, as a teenager, he used to spend a lot of time around wildlife image books. One day, after purchasing his first camera, he decided to portray special moments while he began travelling around the world in search for wildlife and landscape scenarios. The results of his adventures have been well kept in his photos, expressing the emotion of being in the right place at the right time. Photography allowed him to truly explore the world and see everything differently.

www.filipe-silva.com

22 Comments

DeeRiot Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 12:53 am
Filipe, this is great!!!
kml Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 1:00 am
A great effect - he seems to be emerging through a vortex. Excellent contrast!
Joshua Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 1:09 am
Very effective. The gull seems as though it’s entering a different dimension. A supernatural feeling in this photo. Nice and different. Great photo. Well done!
Alvaro Atencio Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 5:48 am
Whatever is that you wanted to do you did, and if not it turned out great anyway. The way the motion of the seagull is captured is awesome, and how that is compared to the stillnes of the water is one of the things i like the most. Im sure you love your work, so keep doing it….
Pieter -sAner- van der Horst Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 6:46 am
The effect is very nice, but the overexposure on especially the tail is too distracting for my liking. You burnt all the details. I also think the composition would have been a lot stronger if the bird would have been placed in the righthandside of the frame. I do love the effect of the long shutterspeed on the waterripples.
Anurag Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 7:02 am
An excellent shot. Like pieter I too agree on a few points. IMHO
1. A tighter crop - leaving out some of the negative space above and behind the seagull
2. Over exposure of the tail is not as bad, but the legs are very overpowering and are competing with the main subject. slight desaturation and reduction of luminance post proguction would help.

All in all a great image, “FINE ART!!”
safi Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Incredible!!! No words can give the appropriate description…
Eric Mortelmans Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Stunning!

It took a while for me to find out what it actually depicts. Just as if it was animated.

It starts with abstract forms and lines emerging from the dark. At that point you can still misinterpret the picture, till the colors slowly come to you senses (is that correct Inglish?…) and create an image of the gull.

Now this is photography I like!
Smitty Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
I agree with Safi that no words are necessary for you excellent work here, but thanks for all the technical imfornation. Too often on EartShots there is no explanation of how or where the image was captured.

Good luck to you.
Alex Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Great shot! The slow shutter speed made for a great panning shot. The added movement from panning gives the viewer the feeling as if he is a gull taking off right next to his buddy.

Great contrast. The yellow on the beak came out quite well.

Good shot!!
Cassandra Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Que surpresa.. abrir o meu earth shots e ver esta fotografia tão mágica da autoria de um Português. Bom trabalho!
mspat Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Really touching. A wonderful photo.
david Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
this is an amazeing shot!
i dont know what to say..

wow! great job!!
Yasmin Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
This is a wonderful image. I disagree with any suggestion for a tighter crop or positioning of the gull, I like the splashes of water off the feet …and the sense of distance travelled. I think the exposure gives an angelic, surreal feel to the image. Great work.
Pauline Jones Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
I think you could have cropped the negative space above the gull a little but the whiteness of the gull itself adds to the effect. Some of the feeling of movement comes from the panning but a lot of it comes from the natural flapping of the wings. It’s a lovely shot, one I don’t think I would ever have thought of myself.
ghieth Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
wow Excellent picture
Lisa Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
It has a very calming effect, nice shot!
Tiago Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Shot simplesmente fantástico! E ainda melhor sabe quando de um conterrâneo!!!

sinceros Parabéns e continuação do excelente trabalho!
Enigma Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
I agree with you Eric. Me too took a while recognise it’s a seagull and really like this style of photography.The contrast, not only of colours, but of movement is awesome. Realyy exceptional photo. Keep it up.
Paul Indigo Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
There’s a poetic beauty to this striking image.
Joey Says:
July 25th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Wow, beautiful! its so perfect, it looks unreal! gd job =P
a. Says:
July 19th, 2008 at 10:02 am
This is very beautiful. The white contrasts so nicely with the dark water. Great Job!