Bathing Beauty

[Arthur Morris]

Made three great trips with Froggie (James Shadle) on the Hooptie Deux last week, one to Alafia, one to the Turkey Creek rookery, and one to the Lakeland Rookery. There is always lots to photograph. I made a long series of this backlit Brown Pelican bathing at Alafia Banks. I took a nice sharp head from the next frame and Quick Masked it onto the head of the bird in this image which had the best spray. While some may consider this criminal, I feel that the natural history of the situation has been preserved.

Canon 600mm f/4L IS lens (on a Wimberley head/Gitzo CF 3530 LSV tripod) with the 1.4X II TC and the EOS-1D MIII. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop )to save the specular highights) set manually: 1/500 sec. at f5.6.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

ps: I will be in Ecuador for a week doing high speed flash hummingbird photography. Breathe deep and have fun till I get back.

[Sid Garige]

Excellent Artie. Water droplets made a great patten with sharp subject head. Action filled and perfect shutter speed created great show. Wonderful.

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi Artie,

The quick mask is so good that if you don't tell we'll have never known. Thanks to Robert O'Toole for all the knowledge. The water drops is what make this image so strong IMO. Lovely low angle and exposure.

Have a good trip!

[Gayle Clement]

Such a shower! I love the water action. Enjoy that trip!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The pattern of the droplets makes this one for me. Great angle and setting, too.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I wouldn't have picked the QM job you achieved. Cheater! :p


Fantastic image, love the spray and the feel for the entire capture!

[Doug Brown]

Love how the water close to the bird is moving faster than the more distant droplets. The water pattern makes this a compelling image. On a separate note, I'm going to spend some time this weekend learning how to do the O'Toole quick mask.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Great light,eye contact,water drops and angle!!!!

[Steve Maxson]

An amazing image, Artie. There is more water (by far) coming off this bird than I have ever seen before in a bathing situation. Are you sure you didn't add 100,000 or so, water droplets? :) :)