Pelican Landing

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Photographed this Pelican yesterday. I thought of utilising my weekend to upgrade my bird portfolio (I am a novice in bird photography). I had to drive 100kms to reach this place in time before the morning light is off. Offcourse, I was dying to try out my new Gitzo 3530 LSV and Wimberley V2 head combine.

Shot with 1D Mark II, Canon EF 400mm F2.8 L IS USM, Canon EF 2xII converter, at ISO 200, 1/2000 at f6.3, Spot meetering, 45 point AF.

[Stephen Stephen]

I like the stop-action here with the birds feet having just touched down. The image looks a little dark on my monitor.

[Rich Ikerd]

Agree on the slightly dark comment from Stephen. The pelican is a little bit too centered for my tastes as well - I would recommend a crop from behind the bird. Great timing on the touchdown!

[Arthur Morris]

Good suggestions above. Looks as if it could use some SH/H work on the darks, a bit of CCW rotation, and some sharpening on the face. Good job of catching the wings up. Can you tell us what species of pelican?

later and love, artie

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Hi Artie,
Its a Grey Pelican - Pelecanus Pilippensis.
I have been trying to catch it with its wing up and using its webbed feet as a brake while landing. The earlier efforts had blown highlights. Also shifting over to my new Gitzo and wimberley v2 helped. I had asked my cousing to get it from USA and had given him the link to your site. He got it from there. Its very costly in India. Thanks for your informative bulletins.

I have couple of shots of pelican about to land which are not centred. However, the background trees are slightly distracting. I had spot metered this shot. I will look at postprocessing issues as suggested. Thanks for the comments.