Brown Pelican

[David Salem]

Took this a few weeks ago my local beach estuary. Even though these birds are fairly common there, I like shooting them in the evening light. Would you clone out the water and leave only the pickle weed in the BG or do you like the splash of color ?

1DMKIV---700mm---f6.3---ss1/3200---ISO500---HH@6:35pm---20% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. Appreciated

David

[Diane Miller]

The pelican is sharp and very dramatic, but I wonder if it could do with a bit less contrast? That would make the water a little less saturated.

I think it would be a strong image either way, with some cropping and cloning to get rid of the water, or just lightening it a little to make it somewhat less prominent.

[David Salem]

Thanks for the comment Diane.
Here is the version without the water.

[PhilCook]

Lovely detail and eye looks excellent, great wing form and tack sharp.

Which backdrop....tough call ??? Like both, but the top one is a little more eye catching...but the water looks a bit too mottled

[Satish Ranadive]

David,
Superb flight shot. I like the re post without water.Beautiful wing position, nice colors,HA, very nice colors and composition too.

Regards,
Satish.

[Greg Oakley]

Great image David - superb IQ and details

[Karl Egressy]

Nice shooting angle and wing position captured, David. I like the top one better.

[Grace Scalzo]

I like the first one best. The water line at the top tells me more about this bird and where he lives. Powerful looking bird...the only thing I might mention is that the colors look quite saturated on my monitor.

[David Salem]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Grace, I shoot at this spot quite a bit in the evenings. The water is very blue at some angles and sometimes looks a like I bumped up the saturation. Maybe I will start desaturating it a bit from now on. Also the pickle weed is the spot where you want to get the birds
flying against, otherwise its blue sky or water. This weed is very vivid in the evening sun and has yellow flowers in it that also make it pop even more. If it looks unnatural I will start toning it down but its pretty much as seen.
I shoot with a small JPEG attached so I can refer to it for color rendering. I figure Canon spends millions on R&D so I get close to the jpeg with a few minor tweaks.
Thanks for your comment and your help

[Diane Miller]

I see the image doesn't have an embedded profile. I assume it is sRGB, but if an image wasn't converted to that and isn't tagged, browsers will display the colors as though it were, giving an altered appearance.

I also see it as maybe a bit too saturated. Monitors and viewing conditions, and just preferences, can make images look very different for different people. I reduced contrast a little and further desaturated the blue a little and got something more like what I would have done, but that can just be individual taste, too.

A caution about matching the in-camera JPEG, though. It can be a useful comparison, but it's aimed at the point-and-shoot consumer. And the camera can only guess at white balance.

[Don Nelson]

I prefer the version with the water at top, but prefer a version with the water somewhat desaturated.
Something similar to

[gail bisson]

Hi David,
I think I prefer the original with the blue at the top. I would just desat the blue of the water ever so slightly and smooth it out a little bit and reduce the contrast of the entire image.
Gail
PS Just read the previous posts and I see I pretty much repeated what Diane said!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi David, your Pelicans are so much more colourful than our plain white ones. Always great to capture them in flight, and love the light and detail on the head and bill. I prefer the OP with the water, it seems to outline the the top of the wings. If anything, I would just smoothen out the BG a touch more.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for your input on the image.

Diane, thanks for all your info and help..Yes it is sRGB . I use the small JEPG for reference as you mentioned but dont totally try to emulate it. I just use it as a baseline, then go off of my recollection of the scene and of that species, then fine tune it.

Don, thanks for taking the time to work on my photo. Looks better with the water desaturated and it looks like you added some saturation to the bird.

[vishaljadhav]

Impressive image David and yes i love the OP as the blue for me adds a lovely touch to it, guess a bit toned down may be just the right choice but i like it as it is.
The bird is so nicely captured with all those superb details that my eye really goes to the bird and only then starts to explore around, fantastic image over all.

[Girish Prahalad]

excellent freeze! lovely details, exp & eye contact. i prefer the BG in the OP.

[yogesh_puranik]

Superb in flight shot liked the sharpness, sweet light and Bg. I will also go with OP..superb one.
BTW: I went with friend today morning but alas :( there was no sunlight at all too cloudy and then entirely foggy :(.
Let me know you available time & we can go together i guess evening would be better....

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi David. Nice image. I think the contrast is too high, so I tried lowering it with Brightness/Contrast in CS6, and it seemed to help (usually doesn't work to lower contrast), then lightened in (curves), then smart sharpen. It looks better on my monitor, but it could be the monitor. regards~Bill

[David Salem]

Thanks again everyone for the comments. I appreciate it.

William, thanks for taking the time to work on the image. Looks good with things lightened up a bit and I like the way the bird pops off the screen even more. Thanks.

[David Salem]

Yogesh,
The Terns and Skimmers have been at this location for months but in the last few days they have started to move out and by today they are almost all gone:(
There will be shorebirds and waterfowl coming into the estuary soon but this is the slowest time of the year at this location. Another month or so and it will get better. Hope to see you soon.

David