Brown Pelican... Gular Sac Extended

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image at Ft. DeSoto County Park in Pinellas County, Florida. The pelican had just surfaced from diving for a fish, the sac was filled with water and maybe a fish. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm PF, camera and lens supported by a Oben carbon fiber monopod with a Wimberly MonoGimbal head
1/5000 F/8 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 1250 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 500mm (750mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2022 and Topaz Denoise AI
Cropped for composition and presentation

[William Dickson]

Great detail on the bird Joe....The wet feathers are exposed well and sharp.....Nice pose and different.....I would desat the blues on the bill..which would make it stand out better against the BG....

Will

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Joe ... love the action captured and the stretched sac is gorgeous .
Light and tones are nice ... head angle and the slightly raised wings are good .

Personal taste , just think the blues are looking a bit electric to me .
Is this a larger crop ?? AS i think the IQ is lacking a bit , IMHO. But this might be just me .

TFS Andreas

[Brian Sump]

Joe, really cool action on this Peli. That gullet is pretty crazy!

Agreed on the blues, it's almost like there's a good bit of cyans or something giving a slightly turquoise effect.

Perhaps just a bit much sharpening on the subject for my tastes. Did you have an option in traditional 2x3?

[Dorian Anderson]

What a view of the pouch! It's as good as I've seen. I agree with the others about the blues, and I think you should move the subject down; his head is way too close the the top
and there's too much room at the bottom. I can also see a significant halo around the top backside of the pouch. It might be worth revisiting the sharpening.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing, commenting and suggesting improvements. I went to the master image and edited the image using your suggestions. Here is a repost.

[Brian Sump]

Much better composition IMO Joe!

[Kurt Bowman]

Agree with others regarding the blues on the OP. The repost looks much better Joe. Love the detail and open bill!

[Mike Poole]

Great to see the extended pouch Joe, makes the frame so much more interesting than a regular portrait. Prefer the composition in the RP

Mike

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, much appreciated.