I saw this group of ( american white) pelicans huddled up on the bank. I had something like this visualized in my mind but getting the right frame with no grass in the BG took some patience. I'd have liked the the full bill to be visible though. next time perhaps.
40d . 300 f/4 non-IS. 1.4x hand-held. f/14. 1/125. iso 640. cropped from horizontal. I stopped down too much IMO. Actually I tried with different apertures but they were moving a lot. The others that I have with wider aperture do not have the same "tightness" in the BG. Sharpness is lacking a bit due to the slow SS. I have done some USM on the main bird.
I'll be paying another visit to them soon...will definitely apply some things that I learned from my first encounter.
The idea works well, and the pelican in the FG has good detail. Im seeing a bit of a blue cast on them. Maybe Im wrong. Yep, its always great to back and play with settings to capture that perfect shot.
The blue cast is there - most likely caused by them sitting in the shade. Destaurating the blue and cyan channels should work well here. Interesting concept. You could crop a sliver at right to eliminate the two yellow areas peeking in the frame.
Last edited by Daniel Cadieux; 11-04-2009 at 01:13 PM.
Thx everyone for the comments. I left the little yellow on the right because I thought the main bird will be too close to the edge otherwise.
This is my first shooting experience with the pelicans in daylight. did some silhouettes last month. Love these birds. Ideal subjects for 400 focal length :-)
I like the idea, soft light and agree with Daniel on either cropping a bit off the right or remove the yellow spots. Another vote for removing the blue cast.
Kaustubh - This is a fluffy, feather pillow of pelicans and I like it. Its the kind of composition I would have on the wall in my house - kind of artsy!
Pelican huddle
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