White Pelican Landing

[Jory Griesman]

This was taken at Lake Morton in Lakeland, Florida.
Nikon D300 with Tamron 200-500 mm at 500mm
1/2500 at f6.3 ISO 800 No exposure comp/flash

Would anybody crop this differently? I wanted to include the slight reflection, but wasn't sure it was necessary. Some white highlights on wings too bright I think.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Very nice landing pose. I would crop some off the bottom and right. I agree that the whites look overexposed. Softer light and a lower angle would have improved this image.

[Jim Poor]

Looks like the whites are a bit hot, and it also looks very yellow to me.

I did a quick neutralization of the cast and then backed off the opacity of the layer a touch to keep it a little warm.

I pretty much like the crop as is.

[Arthur Morris]

Good comments above and a good job by Jim. I would definitely crop a bit from the bottom. Would rather have seen the near wing fully swept back. With experience you can actually time the shutter release to coincide with the maximum braking pose with the wings swept back fully.

later and love, artie

[Jory Griesman]

Thanks, Jim, that looks better.

[Jory Griesman]

Thanks. Axel (and others) re: cropping - should we be cropping at fixed standard ratios/proportions (4x6, 5x7,etc), or freehand cropping to get the best image, for this forum?

[Jory Griesman]

Is this the wing position you mean, Artie?