Laughing Pelican

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I remember the morning two years ago when I noticed this Australasian Pelican coming in above me down at the local river. Suddenly it opened its bill and started to yawn. This is my best image. Hindsight is wonderful and all the skills I learnt since means I would have done it a bit differently had I have had the chance today.

30D, 1/800th.<O:p, f/5.6, <O:p</O:pEvaluative metering, Exposure Compensation <O:p+2/3, ISO 400, EF300mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x

Hand held, approx 80% of original. Plenty of NR and some levels adjustments to brighten image. Just an edge sharpen applied to final image.

[Beth Goffe]

I suppose some fill flash would have helped with the blacks but the open bill and sharpness on the face are so cool, I don't really care. I'm on a dark monitor at work (can't figure out how to brighten it) perhaps a little lightening of the eye might be done? Great image!

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Thanks Beth. :) I may have overdone the blacks in the post process. :( Lucky I have the master file now with layer adjustments.

[Tony Whitehead]

Very interesting behaviour - must have been an aerodynamic challenge to fly with that faceful of wind resistance. Agree on opening up the shadows, maybe reduce contrast and shadow/highlight - probably a bit distant for fill flash but you could have probably got away with a bt more than +2/3EC. You may be able to push the saturation on the facial yellows and pinks a little.

[Arthur Morris]

Wow, I love this. Very sharp and an incredible pose with that open bill. There was a CYAN-BLUE cast that I removed with Average Blur Color Balancing and then did a bit Shadow-Highlight ADJ which worked surprisingly well. Ran NR on the dark belly. I am thinking that the repost is a huge improvement.

And thank you kind sir for your membership support.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Wow Artie, that is a great rework of the image. Thank you.

As I said, two years ago I was a lot less competent at this and I have learned a lot - mostly via BPN and your books Maestro but even more importantly being out there. I wish I were privileged to experience the opportunity again to see the behavior, I would probably lean towards a 1 2/3 overexposure.

The membership is a small price to pay to be part of and support the best family of photographers in the world. Only too happy to be a member finally. :)

Thanks again!

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. My pleasure. Still a great image and a wonderful capture.

[Wayne Ellis]

Great capture mate

[Ramon M. Casares]

I think the respost is better indeed, I love this shot, very unique and sharp, IMHO it feels like you gave a bit too much NR, but other than that, I like it very much! Congratulatinos!

[Arthur Morris]

I think the respost is better indeed, I love this shot, very unique and sharp, IMHO it feels like you gave a bit too much NR, but other than that, I like it very much! Congratulatinos!

Ramón, If you are referring to the repost, where do you see too much NR?

[Ramon M. Casares]

No Artie, I am referring to the OP, IMHO it has a bit too much NR, to me noticeable specially in the bill wich looks too soft :)

[Ramon M. Casares]

By Soft I don't mean OOF, I mean with no texture, like silk.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Ramon. I do not see that at all. The bill looks great to me with lots of detail (in both the ORIG and the re-post).

[Ramon M. Casares]

Sure Artie, no problem, it could be a monitor issue of course :)