Sunset Pelican

[Evan Cain]

This image of a Brown Pelican was made just after sunset with a Canon Xti, so I was pushing the limits of the Xti's ISO cabability ( ISO 800 after sun was down). Do you think that the lack of detail + noise on the pelican detracts too much from the image? I pushed the shadows on the pelican as far as I could go without bringing too much noise into the shadow detail. Trying to decide if I want to toss this one or not. Thoughts appreciated, other CC more than welcome.

400mm f/5.6 ISO 800 1/500th
Hand held

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the tones in the sky and the wing position, but unfortunately you were on the wrong side of the light and as a result subject was underexposed. It is really tough to make a quality shot when the light is wrong, here your best choice was to go for a silhouette

[LinzRiverBalmer]

I agree with Arash, turn it silhouette if you want to keep it.

i actually like all aspects of what you did, and like the feather quality for low light, the belly area and wing edges are nice IMHO.

my problem comes to the eye, and that portion of the head, just not sharp and crisp which detracts

[Martin Dunn]

Interesting shot Evan.

I like the way the sunlight catches the leading edges of the wings and the breast.
Unfortunately though, the overall image is a bit dark with not enough detail and it is not really sharp enough.

[Evan Cain]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I was stuck with this lighting situation because the birds were only on the ocean side of the jetty I was standing on. Thank you for confirming the direction I was leaning towards. Thought I would seek some opinions before sending it to the trash :)

[gail bisson]

Hi Evan,
I have to agree with all of the above. When faced with this situation, I got for a - EV compensation to get the most dramatic sky possible and darken the bird for a silhouette shot,
Gail