Brown Pelican

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image from the gulf fishing pier at Ft. Desoto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 330mm
1/3200 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV -2/3 ISO 250
Post processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC 2017
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Alex Becker]

Nice one Joseph. I like how these guys will often look like conductors when in flight. I like the opened foot as well. I would in a perfect universe wish for a slightly better angle but nothing you can do about it and the light does fall on the eye. Maybe a less centered composition as well. Nice contrast between the bird and the BG...really pops. TFS

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Joe, I've always liked your Brown Pelicans, so much more colour than our White Pelicans. Good incoming pose with the splayed wings, and I agree, moving him back to the LHS wont harm the image.

[Daniel Cadieux]

A bit tight in the frame, and the light angle is "wrong", but I like it better that I thought I would. I like the colours of the water.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks guys for viewing, commenting, and suggesting improvements. Here is an edit and repost not as tight with the bird not as centered. Thanks again.

[Mike Singh]

Hi Joseph you have captured the action really well here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[arash_hazeghi]

landing is cool, sharp but the light was coming from the wrong side and as a result the pelican has a strange color cast on it... it looks pinkish on my screen

TFS

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the shot Jo, I sense the colours aren't quite there I also think you could get some more detail from the plumage. Certainly worthwhile having another shot.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Ari and Jon, thank you for viewing and commenting. I had another go at the image. The original had a strong green cast from the reflected light off the water. I tried to find a point on the white chest to use the white balance eye dropper to set at neutral, then the usual tone mapping and sharpening. Here is a repost.

[Jonathan Ashton]

That's better Jo, sometimes you may need to select several points for the white balance becasue you have to bare in mind that the area selected can be influenced by blue sky or by green water. there seems to be a little more detail in the head - have you tried Artie's 25/25 recipe, it can be very useful.