Captain James (Froggie) Shadle and I took a busman's holiday aboard his flats boat "Hooptie" on Monday morning. This Brown Pelican was photographed with the EOS 1D Mark III and the 400 DO with the 1.4X II TC (handheld). ISO 500. Meter reading off 30 degree sky +2/3 stop: 1/1600 sec. at f/7.1 set manually.
I am not a huge fan of the light-toned water in the lower left corner... I tried to make it black and I tried to make it green and neither worked, so I went witht the real deal. Thanks again Froggie!
All comments welcome. Later and love, artie
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You did well panning your camera to capture your subject. I have to agree with you about the water. This image is extremely sharp and full of details. You also did well with the exposure balancing the lights and darks.
Love to get these killer sharp closeups in flight. This one is no slouch in that regard. I do like the fact that the bird is covered in water droplets and the bg colors are so complimentary.I might take a smidge off the top to get the eye more off the center line, not a big deal though. Darn that bottom left corner eh? Killer exposure too.
Hi Artie,
This is really tack sharp! I don't find the light blue water in the lower left objectionable at all and I think it contrasts nicely with the darker tones in the upper right and top and nicely frames the pelican.
Great colours and sharp details. Even though I don't see the whole bird I can feel that it'll sweep by me in the next couple of seconds. I almost expect to get a little wet.
Artie,
That was a blast! Artie has been in the bay, but this was his first trans-bay trip in the "hooptie"
Perfect exposure and tack sharp. Not normally my cup of tea, but I like the blue in the lower left.
For my taste I would prefer the pelican a little more to the left side of the frame.
However, moving the Pelican more left would crop part of the right wing that offers balance to the composition.
Darth Froggie
"Busman's holiday": Noun. A vacation during which one engages in activity that is similar to one's usual work.
Sort of like when a bus driver takes a vaction on a bus.
later and love,
artie
ps; Thanks to all who commented.
Last edited by Arthur Morris; 01-09-2008 at 07:00 AM.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
Such lovely graphic elements in the feathers, too! Re the blue of the corner: Am wondering if you have already experimented with desaturating the background yellows/greens a bit, to see if that might balance their tonal values vis a vis the light tones of the pastel blue in the corner, and also perhaps result in diminishing the visual pull of the background ...? -- Karen