Pelicans and Sunset Composite

[Bill Dix]

D90; 80-400 VR @ 400mm; ISO 400, 1/4000s @ f/6.3; Matrix metering @ -1.0 EV. Pelicans at 1/1250 @ f/6.3, 110mm.

I sat on a Sanibel beach shooting hundreds of pelican flight shots the other evening, hoping one would fly across the fiery sunset. They flew over it or beneath it, but never where I told them to go. So I took matters into my own hands and pasted a few pelicans into a tele shot of the sinking sun. I thought of posting this on the OOTB forum but figured I'd share it here. In-camera exposure and RAW conversion were sheer guesswork, and despite greatly de-saturating the reds this came out redder than the actual sunset, although the real one was spectacular enough. C&C appreciated.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Bill,
I like the bright colors, and the placement of the pelicans in frame, would have liked to have seen the sun off centered a tad to the right hand side of the frame. Would also try to desaturate the red just a tad more...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Alfred Forns]

Great idea Bill !!! Could make a postcard out of this one !!

Like the bird's position in frame, might move the sun as suggested by Gus With these my try some underexposing more to get some color in the sun. ... btw color just adjust to taste, this is a bit over saturated but looks good !!!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Bill, very clean and original looking image. Agree with my brothers above over saturated IMO,..but like Al said,..it's all about feel - well done.


Let's talk technical,. great sun and this is no easy task to photograph the sun! The silo's are sharp and cool cloud formtion over sun looks fun, I would post in the OOTB forum, denise will enjoy your work as well.

[kostas nianiopoulos]

its a verry good image , ony the reds a bit desaturate as Gus says above ... send me a copy when u gonna print it .. well done .

[Katie Rupp]

Very nice and I particularly like the cloud in front of the sun...will make a very dramatic print.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all for the positive comments and suggestions. I've taken Jeff's advice and posted another version on the OOTB forum cropped to a 3:2 format, positioned the sun, horizon and birds more or less according to the ROT, and further desaturated the reds. But I think I may like this pano version better.