White Pelican standoff...

[Dan O'Leary]

Another image during silver light with the White Pelicans near Sebastian in FL. For this one I used a splash of flash to clean up the whites on this beautiful bird.

Not sure about the composition / pose in this one, so I'm posting it here in OOTB. Please let me know if you think it works...

2008:01:13 16:40:20
1dm3 @ 500mm
1/200 sec, f/11, Av, Eval +1, ISO 1250
Flash ETTL -1

[Arlene Spagna]

Nice job on the whites as they don't look hot, except perhaps a little on the top of the pelican's head...it blends into the water.

I like the composition, but maybe in this instance some crop off the right side would bring attention directly to the pelican and not so much of the high-key water to the right of the bird's wing. The negative space on the right is not necessary here since the pelican's beak is facing the other way. I also like the lower portion of the water and ripples. It's a nice image.

[Dan O'Leary]

I was trying a vert crop after posting this but struggled. The original is nearly full frame so I wasn't able to do it without cloning in a bunch of water. I decided I'd wait until I got some feedback. Based on your comments I made this variation of the image. It is slightly darker to help separate the bird's head from the water. I had to add some water to the top and a tiny bit at the bottom.

I hope you enjoy the improvements.

[Arlene Spagna]

Hi Dan,
Yes, much better IMHO. But perhaps now a little too cropped on the right. But I understand you don't want the pelican centered either. A great job on the water/reflection. The silver water is atttractive.

[Alfred Forns]

I like the suggestion by Arlene Ideally you wan to slide the bird to the right

In order to re-compose I normally focus with my thumb (rear of camera) and trip the shutter with the index (conventional) Robert O'Toole talk me into it and have been doing it full time It allows me to recompose at any time When I let go of the back button the focus will stay and can trip the shutter after re-composing Just a thought

I added canvas to the left You could give the bird room all around with the same technique Excellent exposure and reproduction !!!!

[Fabs Forns]

Great crop suggestions, I like both. The guideline calls for leaving more space in front of where the bird is looking. Nice use of flash, btw :)

[Rosl Roessner]

Wow, I like this one!
What a beautiful light!

[Stephen Stephen]

Very nice original Dan and I like the two crops as well.

[Dan O'Leary]

Ok, this is my final crop. Time to move on to something else, but I'm very happy with the learning and the final result. This last one took the most work as it required me to add significant canvas to the left and blending it in was a bit of a trick for me. I hope it passes muster.

Lesson learned: when the bird is moving left and looking right, think carefully about composition before pulling the trigger.

Thanks to everyone for their helpful critiques.

Alfred - I do use the recompose technique you described on the m3, as I learned from Artie's guide. Works like a charm!

[Arthur Morris]

Not sure why but I like the first one, the rule-breaker, best.

later and love, artie

ps: I would get rid of the little black spot near the tail...

[Dan O'Leary]

Funny, but after posting this and looking back over them all I had the same impression. Go figure.