Brown Pelican - in for landing

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Another one taken at Little Estero, FL. This one was taken in the morning with a bit of sidelight. The sun would peek through the clouds every now and then, and I would only hope that the pelicans would fly in during that time. I got lucky on this one.

It's a slight crop from the full frame shot, and aspect ratio was changed to 16:9. I did a bit of post processing, more than usual to really try to extract detail in the feathers and give the image a little more pop via contrast. I'd appreciate comments and thoughts on the processing.

Shooting info:
Nikon d800 | 500 f/4 VR | 1.4x
1/1600" | f/5.6 | ISO 800

Comments, critiques, and and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

[Henry Domke]

I'd appreciate comments and thoughts on the processing.

Overall the image seems to bright and anemic on my monitor. The area on the neck right under the bill seems blown out. Likewise with the right side of the birds face. This should be easily controlled with the Highlight slider in Lightroom 4 (LR4) . (What software are you using?).

Other processing thoughts (assuming you are using LR4)
Reduce the exposure
Boost saturation with the Vibrance slider
Somehow you need to add some color (blue) to the background).

I hope that helps!
Henry

[gail bisson]

Hi Miguel,
Nice pose and incoming angle.
I have to agree that the image needs a boost in saturation as it looks a bit washed out.
It would be nice to see a bit more blue to the sky- you can selectively add blue or decrease the exposure on the sky,
Gail

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Thanks for the input guys, I was actually afraid I had added too much contrast!

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Again, thanks for the input. I tweaked it a bit and came up with this. Let me know what you guys think.

[Alan Murphy]

Repost looks so much better. Well saved.

[John Cooper]

Nice wingspan in this head-on capture Miguel and a big improvement in the repost.

[arash_hazeghi]

very cool, I'd go for something between original and repost, repost is a tad dark to my eye.

great shot

[gail bisson]

Repost is much better. Well done,
Gail

[Karl Egressy]

Great wing span, excellent landing pose captures so well, Miguel. The repost looks better.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Miguel, good incoming pose showing the full wingspread. I feel you have achieved good all round sharpness, and done well with the side lighting. Your repost does look better, but did you add blue to the entire image, as it seems there are hints of blue on the pelican. I could be wrong.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Stuart, thanks for pointing that out. I added blue throughout. I'll mask the pelican out for the final shot.