Peek-a-boo Pelican

[Garry McCarthy]

http://www.gmccarthy.com/bpn/_D302921-bpn.jpg

Brown Pelican; La Jolla, California. 1/30/2010.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF; f/8; 1/1600; ISO: 200; EC: -1/3. Hand-held.

PP: Sharpening; no crop.

Thanks for any feedback.

[Randy Stout]

Garry:

Nicely exposed, with very interesting detail, the fine feathers around the eye. In a perfect world, you would want the eye framed, but not blocked by that left feather. Still, very interesting effect.

I know you were at f/8, but a bit more DOF would be nice. You obviously were in close, so even at smaller apertures, the DOF would be slim.

Although the low angle is generally better, perhaps a bit higher to clear the mass of the wings just a bit more would have been interesting.

I know I am not asking for much, 1) move 1.6 ft to your right to help frame the eye better {don't fall off the cliff}
2) Stand up 6" to clear the wing mass a bit
3) Defy the law of physics to generate increased depth of field.

Seriously, I like it! Might try a version cropped in even tighter to eliminate much of the wing below and some off the left.

Cheers

Randy

[Ofer Levy]

I like this a lot. WIth more DOF it could have been a reall winner IMO.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Love the composition of this one and the beautiful eye contact. I agree a tad more DOF would have been good. Great caption too Garry. thanks for sharing.

[Garry McCarthy]

Thank you all for your comments; they are greatly appreciated. Randy, I see you know exactly where I was standing!