The Wedding Dress Scapulars

This is another from my recently concluded trip to Lake Kerkini, Greece, to photograph Dalmatian Pelicans. This image was created with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens, the 2X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV hand held at 335 mm. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/200 sec. at f/11 (stopped down from f/5.6). I learned long ago that you need lots of d-o-f for the tight feather images as the bird's bodies are quite rouned even though we may perceive them as being flat.

Am typing in a London hotel; fly to Orlando midday today.

Arthur,

I have mixed feelings on this one. I like the overall composition as the neck, beak and center group of feathers forms a beautiful triangle and the soft quality of the light and detail in the white feathers are beautiful. What bothers me slightly is the main focus seems to be the center group of feathers though the bright orange of the beak keeps drawing my attention away. I wonder what a b&w rendition of this would look like?

Richard

Have to disagree, Richard/ IMO the large group of feathers and the beak balance each other out. If it were BW, the beak would look like a stick of wood and the whole effect would be lost.

I like the composition and the way the feathers on the left stand out. I might clean up the URC if it were mine. Very nice work Arthur.

Artie, I'm loving the detail and sharpness you got hand-holding in this image. I also like the bill adding the slash of color to the composition. I love preening shots of all kinds and this tight perspective works for me in a big way. A little bird told me you had the time of your life in Greece. :c3:

This is beautiful, Artie. I like it a lot with different types of feather in display here. The bill with the neck and the wing forms a nice triangle and works well for me. I guess this is another in your collection of feathers! Regards

Very nice composition, Artie. I love all the details in the feathers. I agree with Richard that the bill seems to draw attention away from the feathers, but instead of converting to B&W I think just desaturating the reds a little would do the trick. Nice work.

Thanks all. I love the bill :) Thanks to Ms. Ippolito for noticing the out of place black markings in the URC. The crop here addressed mainly that.

Looks good.:S3:

Arthur, love the comp, the details in the feathers and the bill. A nice abstract! My only nit was going to be the upper right corner, but that gone in the repost.

Wonderful abstract, Artie! Fantastic complementary lighting/exposure for this white on white subject. :S3:

Thanks again all, especially Ms. Ippolito.