Hunting Brown Pelican

[Eric Dienesch]

Hello, my first trip to florida is over.. i came back to cold germany yesterday.
i am still a little bit tired, also because my 14 year old daughter had a dressage tournament participate this morning.. 6 oclock wake up, 8 oclock started, and the result: Best ot the rest, 1/10 Point from a placement. But thats sports ..

anyway i am only the driver, you know.
Back to topic:
More than 5000 Pictures have to be secured and controlled and and and..
It was a great time, a great adventure and experience for me, see this beautifull little owls.. the fascinating eagles and the different herons and egrets and so on.. but i have see no alligator, ok doesn`t matter

AND again my very best thanks for all good hints and advices for my trip planning from you !!!

To the Picture:
It was the first time that i ever have seen these brown pelicans (wildlife, not in a zoo), it was very interesting to watch the hunting method.
here is an example, i have taken this picture at the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area, Ft. Myers Beach.

You can easy catch the start or the not so fast flight, but it was very difficult for me too see, when the birds is hunting the short way from starting his flight down to water

I hope you like it a little bit, comments highly welcome.

1DX with 840mm (600/4+1.4 III) at 6.3, ISO 500, 1/1250sec; tripod mounted

[Richard Gollar]

I really like this shot. I think you nailed the lighting on this shot and its so sharp. I also think you nailed the timing on that shot. Thats where I love the 1DX it make a hard shot like this a little easier with its frame rate. This is a perfect example of shooting with the sun to your back so the bird has very few shadows. I really like you can see the eye so good and clear great shot. Man that 600mm handles the tc so well.

[Randy Stout]

Eric:

Florida is indeed a special place for birds. Excellent timing, not easy to catch the decisive moment.

Composition works. The water looks just a bit oversaturated, but certainly possible.

Look forward to more.

Cheers

Randy

[steve torna]

I agree, you captured the decisive moment and the pelican looks sharp; the little splash at the end of the beak is really cool. I might tone down the blues and the greens to give more attention to the subject. Great timing and capture. steve

[Daniel Cadieux]

Caught right at the peak timing, really cool. I love the pose. The colours, especially the blues, are indeed too saturated for my tastes. I also see a bit of a softness around the subject's contour - certainly due to masking to blur the BG. Hope to see more from your trip, Florida is a bird photography hot spot!

[Gerhard Weldhagen]

Great timing for this shot and excellent focus. The blues and greens looks a bit too saturated on my screen but otherwise a very good image. This may look even better in B&W.

[Mike Poole]

Timed to perfection, but I agree with the others about the saturation.

Mike

[Bill Dix]

Tough to catch the perfect moment of the dive as you have done here. Well done. Over-saturation noted.

[David Salem]

I love trying to get Pelicans diving and this one looks great. The timing is perfect! Tone down the saturation and you are good to go. Well done

[Jonathan Ashton]

Great timing Eric, my only reservation is the saturation.

[Eric Dienesch]

Thank you , Friends !!
B/W is really an idea and i have tried do manage the saturation, what do you think ??

b/w


saturation

thx

[arash_hazeghi]

love the peak of action with sharp details and good exposure, the BG could have been better in an ideal world

the last post with desaturated BG works better

TFS