American White Pelican- portrait

[Amol Khedgikar]

Shot a great series (in my mind.. ;) where I didnt rush any shots and tried out a lot of different things. The light was pretty dull but I think it kind of helped me. Lot of pelicans to look at from about 20-30 feet but o action. I liked this shot as it shows what the eye is looking at .. - me. What do you all think?

5D#+700 mm, f5.6, 1/1250, ISO 1000, Hand held, kneeling trying to get the reflection as much as possible. some cleanup of surrounding water

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[Enrique Patino]

Yes, I think the dull light helped you here. I like the feather detail. Did you get other frames with the body and head angled a bit more? TFS

[Amol Khedgikar]

THanks Enrique, Yes I have a many more frames... I will post one by one....:)

[Enrique Patino]

Looking forward to it. Try warming it up a bit and see how you like it...

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Amol, the dull light has certainly helped with the exposure, and I quite like the swimming angle showing off the bow wave infront of his body. Placement works well too. I feel there is a blue cast on the pelican, easily fixed. :w3

[Shawn Zierman]

Yeah I like the subject placement here and the body and head angle, and how the pelican is coming towards you. The water color is nice too. The whole image is a bit flat, and one consideration would be to up the blacks and contrast prior to raw conversion and then fine tune the punch a bit after that....The tons of details in the whites of the bird are very nice.

[Arthur Morris]

As above. there is lots to like here. Especially the bow wave. Darkening the pupil just a bit might give it some more pop.

[Amol Khedgikar]

Reposting

Blue Color Cast removed and eye darkened as suggested by Artie-

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[Arthur Morris]

Better but... For the repost I took some more BLUE out of the WHITEs and cleaned some of the schmutz in the water.

[Amol Khedgikar]

WOw Artie, big difference. Thanks

[Arthur Morris]

You are most welcome. It took several techniques. I should have worked it so as to leave the color of the water the same....