One of my favorite subjects, the White Pelican. Captured at the Salton Sea.
I have learned to use manual exposure quite a bit at this location, because there are no trees for shade and rarely ever a cloud in the sky, so I am working with harsh sunlight and changing background conditions. I start each day of shooting by finding a white bird (easy to do here!), starting with an extrapolation of the "sunny sixteen" rule, and determining what the best shutter speed and aperture are going to be for the situation and bird. In this case, I wanted extra DOF due to the large size of the bird and I was hand-holding a 400mm so I wanted a very fast shutter speed. If I am shooting a brown pelican or other dark bird, I know that I have to open up the exposure by about a stop or so. I am also a big fan of chimping... :D
What I ended up with here was f/7.1 @ 1/5000th. The other techs are as follows:
50D, EF400mm f/5.6L
Manual mode, f/5.6@1/5000 ISO 800 AWB
AI Servo autofocus using back button, hh no flash
A very fine image Kerry, I like the fine sharp details rendered in the winga...the flight angle and capture are superb...the dark blue water makes your subject pop out...I like it. My only suggestion would be to lighten up the eye a tad and re-sharpen...well done Kerry...looking forward to your next one...:cool:
A beautiful landing pose with nice colors. I think you handled the exposure well. Agree on the sharpening suggestion and I do not think you need quite as much room on the right as you've allowed.
Hi Kerry - agree with Gus assessment - some really nice fine detail there AND spot on use of the manual exposure.
What metering mode did you use?
If these guys are your Fav - you would love were I am trying to organize a trip to (Lake Eyre) 10,000 nesting pelicans there at the moment. (Google Lake Eyre in Australia)
Lance, sorry I forgot to mention the metering mode. I use evaluative metering and check against the sky for a starting place.
Would love to join you on that trip! Didn't know you had a massive salt lake down there. Sounds like a very similar environment to the Salton Sea, only much bigger.
Kerry, A great landing pose! Very nice details. Your exposure looks good for the harsh light. Very nicely done! Would crop a bit off the right just to your sig.
Nice and sharp Kerry. You really froze the action at 1/5000th. Good exposure in harsh light. Like the way you have it presented. Perfect metering in manual mode. Well done!
I like Kerry Agree with comments and suggestions Can add sure wish you could have made it just a fraction before .. would have taken a different look !!! Excellent !!!
Repost is fabulous Kerry! I like the methodology used and your result shows the application!
Though be careful chimping as I got caught out on Saturday by a number of Whistling Kites in a group approach me that close AND AT EYE LEVEL that I VOWED NEVER to chimp unless the sky is EMPTY and NOTHING IS APPARENT! I am really p1ssed that I missed an opportunity that good to even potentially get a head close up!
Assignment - manual mode
