Pelican - Bird in Flight

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

March Migration has started in Texas. As part of weekend Bird watch I went to Bolivar peninsula. I saw lot of activity with Sanderlings, Piping Plovers etc. After watching Sanderlings do their little dance (run with quick feet), Flock of pelicans catch my eye.

Pelicans were flying from one edge of the island to the other edge right across where I was standing with my camera mounted on Gimbal head and Tripod. This was a perfect opportunity for me to take a BIF.

I tired to do pre-focus by assuming their flight path and took this shot. I took several shots but most of the pelicans flew very lose the sealevel and due to the motion of the waves or due to my shooting techniques I did not get good shots.

Finally some of them started flying a bit higher and was able to take this shot.

Let me know your comment on the same.

D7100, Sigma 150-600mm sports
ISO 800, f/6.3, 1/2500 sec

Thanks
Krishna

[arash_hazeghi]

I like that there are some clouds in the sky, adds more interest. And you had nice light on most of the body, but unfortunately the head fell in the shade and his head was also slightly turned away from us, not ideal. The wings will look better if they are fully up or down.

A pelican is one of the easiest birds to capture in flight (when not diving) so it's a good subject for you to practice. BTW, Pre-focus doesn't really make sense unless you have something in the frame at the same distance as the bird to focus on, here there is nothing to pre-focus on.


TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

Just like Arash, I am enjoying the inclusion of clouds in the sky and the light. The wing position is OK to me as the body is banking away for a bit more interest, but yes, fully up or down would have been better. The main issue here is the pelican's head: angled away and in shadow.

I agree with Arash that this is a perfect BIF practice subject (as are gulls). Keep at it and you will improve. Practice keeping the active focus point(s) on the face area.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Thanks Arash and Dan for the feedback. I will keep practicing BIF shots. I will try to get some shots when the Wings were fully up or down.

These are some of the other shots.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Krishna, please limit to one photo per thread for critique, you can post your other photos in separate threads

best