Brown Pelican in flight

[James Babbitt]

It is "Brown Pelican" time in San Diego again. This shot was taken with a Canon 7D2 and 100-400 II lens at 120 mm. It was taken from a boat and sardines were used to lure the birds close (these birds are conditioned to follow fishing boats so it was not difficult to attract a frenzy). ISO 800, f/8.0, SS 1/5000. Shadows were brought up significantly, a slight crop was taken from the left side in DPP. In PS luminance of yellow and orange was brought down because of the yellow on the top of his head was blown. A small amount of NR and sharpening was applied to the entire picture with Topaz DeNoise AI.
My question is, should I soften the shadow under the R wing? Any other suggestions?

[gail bisson]

Hi James,
Welcome to BPN!
I love these pelicans. Their colors are beautiful.
Your image is nice and sharp and you have a nice view of the wings.
It looks like you were dealing with harsh light but your PP is good with regards to lightening the shadows and saving the yellows. I would not worry about the shadow under the wing. It is supposed to be there with the light angle you had.
I am not loving the boxy crop. I would add canvas on the RHS and take a bit off the top and bottom for a 4 x 6 crop.
The ripples in the water are a bit overwhelming and distract from the bird. I would try to reduce the blacks in the blues in selective coloring and see if that lessens the impact of the ocean ripples.
Gail

[James Babbitt]

Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions. I will try to minimize the background clutter. This is my ignorance showing, but my original crop was less boxy. The distance from the bird to the right hand border was greater, but when I resized for BPN, it ended up being more boxy. I need to become more knowledgeable about resizing.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi James, welcome to BPN. Nice Image of the Pelican, sharp nicely detailed. As said, don't worry about the shadow under the wing. The yellow on the head has muddied from having to lower it so much. Thank you for sharing.

[James Babbitt]

Thank you for your thoughts. I will go back and see if changing the luminance reduction of the yellow will increase the detail some. Originally the head was more white than yellow.

[John Mack]

Classic flight pose. Really digging that blue ripply water. Nice framing with plenty of room for the bird to fly into.

[James Babbitt]

Classic flight pose. Really digging that blue ripply water. Nice framing with plenty of room for the bird to fly into.

Thank you. It was a flat day on the ocean. Probably 30' prior to this shot, the ocean was like a mirror.

[Mike Poole]

Welcome to BPN James, and a lovely first shot. Good light, and great to see the different perspective to normal from using a shorter focal length

Mike

[Dorian Anderson]

Welcome. Lots of good help here. This is a nice introduction. The bird is as well-lit as conditions would allow, and the bird is in nice focus from wing to wing. Going to f/8 was smart on that front. I agree with Gail about the shadow; it is
not an issue but could be minimized with more horizontal light in future shoots. I'd also like to see a more traditional crop with a bit more room to the left of the bird.

[James Babbitt]

Welcome to BPN James, and a lovely first shot. Good light, and great to see the different perspective to normal from using a shorter focal length

Mike

Thank you. I was fortunate that I saw this bird coming from a long ways off so was able to prepare myself and track the bird steadily reducing the zoom.

[James Babbitt]

Welcome. Lots of good help here. This is a nice introduction. The bird is as well-lit as conditions would allow, and the bird is in nice focus from wing to wing. Going to f/8 was smart on that front. I agree with Gail about the shadow; it is
not an issue but could be minimized with more horizontal light in future shoots. I'd also like to see a more traditional crop with a bit more room to the left of the bird.

The SOC shot does have a bit more room at the left. I cropped that to emphasize the room to the right. Unfortunately, I ended up at 120 mm and probably should have been at 100 but was not quite quick enough.