Diving Brown Pelican

[Indranil Sircar]

I was out on Sunday photographing whales and dolphins on Monterey Bay. We also saw plenty of Pelagic birds that included Shearwaters, Black-footed Albatross, Common Murre, Pelagic Cormorant to name a few. This is in addition to Brown Pelicans and Gulls who relentlessly followed us for chum. Here is one such image as a brown pelican dived for chum. For processing, I used Topaz Adjust and Simplify. Changed opacity of the layers and used masks to paint certain portions of the image. Hope you like it...

[John Storjohann]

Indranil, a great job of processing on this one...I love the effect on the water...and a great job of bringing some detail back into the pelican. If it were mine I might brighten the pelican a smidge..and maybe add a burn to the four corners..just to help give a little more separation. As it, it is still a wonderful image...did you see any whales?

[Judy Howle]

Great base image -- you really captured the pelican at the right moment! I love the effect on the water. I think brightening the pelican, especially the beak, might separate it from the water more.

[Indranil Sircar]

John, Judy, thanks a lot. Here is a repost with brightened pelican... I also added a slight vignette...

[Anita Bower]

You certainly saw a lot of birds!

The colors and light in this image are lovely. Wonderful position of the wings. I hate to write this, but the image as a whole doesn't work for me. It doesn't look natural. When I first say it I thought you had created a composit, taking the pelican from one image and the water from another. The pelican looks like it is standing on the water, not hovering over the water. :e3

[Maureen Allen]

Beautiful, Indranil! I love the effect on the water and the action captured. The repost is a little too light for my taste - perhaps somewhere between the OP and the repost?

[denise ippolito]

Awesome capture Indranil! I love the what the filter did to the water and the Peli reminds me of a duck! Nice composition allowing for the water water. Agree w/ Maureen somewhere in between.:S3:

[Jay Sheinfield]

Hi Indranil,

Anita has given me an idea and something you might consider..................it's easier by example than words. I hope you don't mind. What think? I did some shadow work in the water and brightened the head/dive water spray................also tone down the entire BG behind the bird for depth. I don't know if this is better, just an idea for you to consider. Great image to work with.......................

[John Storjohann]

This is why I love this forum! Indranil, your repost, as mentioned by others, seemed to go a little too far in brightening the bird...but it was on the right track! Jay's repost, at least for me, nailed it....both with the bird, and the shadows on the water (something I had not even thought of). This has really sent the image over the top for me. :cheers:

[Indranil Sircar]

Hi Indranil,

Anita has given me an idea and something you might consider..................it's easier by example than words. I hope you don't mind. What think? I did some shadow work in the water and brightened the head/dive water spray................also tone down the entire BG behind the bird for depth. I don't know if this is better, just an idea for you to consider. Great image to work with.......................

Jay, this is awesome. I like how you did this... the shadow really makes it work as also adjusting the bg. Thanks for trying this out.

Agree with John; this is what makes OOTB so much fun:5

[Indranil Sircar]

You certainly saw a lot of birds!

The colors and light in this image are lovely. Wonderful position of the wings. I hate to write this, but the image as a whole doesn't work for me. It doesn't look natural. When I first say it I thought you had created a composit, taking the pelican from one image and the water from another. The pelican looks like it is standing on the water, not hovering over the water. :e3

Anita, thanks for your comment. You do have a point. I was analyzing the original and it seems to me the composite feel comes from the way I processed it in layers and then using masks to adjust the pelican. I think Jay's version fixes that to great extent. It's always a good to get alternate viewpoint :S3:

[Jay Sheinfield]

Indranil, Happy you like it................thanks