Brown Pelican, La Jolla

[Brendan Dozier]

One of my first flight images of a Brown Pelican taken yesterday. I liked the even light across the whole underwing span. Avoided the harsh light I had last time, but still wish light was a bit softer & sweeter on this one. Experimented with different rotations, but settled with leveling with the eyeline. Standard PS adjustments (the white on the edges & tips of lower wing edges & tail feathers are natural and were on RAW file). Removed another pelican and part of rock from LLC. Now that I look at it, probably does need a bit more room along bottom.

7D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM +2.0x
1/2500
5.6
ISO 400

C & C welcome and appreciated,

- Brendan

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice wingspread, well exposed, and very sharp as posted!! Good details on those wings. I personally think it needs a bit of CCW rotation (the eyes do not appear to be level as you want them to be), and yes for more room below, and left, if you have it.

[Mike Milicia]

Great landing pose with excellent detail!

Wouldn't mind a bit more room all around, especially at bottom and left as suggested by Daniel.
For a landing pose, I like to have more room at the bottom than the top.

As for rotation, it's hard to tell and it might be an illusion, but the water does not look level to me and looks like it actually needs a CW rotation to correct it. If you agree, I would correct for the water and let the eyes fall where they may.

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Brendan, Nice landing pose captured and agree with more space. Rotation is going to be tricky as you have water at different angles in the BG and foreground.

[James Salywoda]

Awesome landing pose... Brendon

[Brendan Dozier]

Taking into consideration your suggestions, I did two different versions, both with more space on bottom and L side. The first one below I rotated a bit CCW as Daniel suggested to make more level with the eye line. The second one I rotated CW and made level with some of the waves further out, as Mike suggested, (which was hard because the waves are coming in at different angles). Like the changes but I'm not sure which one I like best. What do you think? Thanks for your help guys.

[Brendan Dozier]

Here's the second version