The Attack

[Bhushan Dalvi]

Hi Everyone,
My first post on this forum. I have a picture of Eastern Brown Pelican to share.


Eastern Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) by BhushanBD, on Flickr

Location: Port Aransas, Texas
Device: Nikon D90
Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6G
Focal Length: 220mm
Focus Mode: AF-C
AF-Area Mode: Dynamic, 3D/Wide
VR: ON
Exposure
Aperture: F/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1600s
Exposure Mode: Manual
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 200


I am pretty new at bird photography and would love to learn from all the great photographers here. C & C are welcome.
Thanks
Bhushan

[Joel Eade]

Welcome Bhushan!

Your pelican image has many nice features, it is well exposed and sharp, the head angle is good.

You could make it a stronger image by not cropping it quite so tightly and have the bird more in the upper left part of the frame so there is room in front and below him for him to "fly into". There are some small white spots behind the bird that probably should be removed.

It will be most helpful to others viewing your image and to those critiquing if you include the technical info. with your post.....such as shutter speed, iso, aperture setting, metering mode and maybe some info about where the shot was taken and under what conditions.

Nice first post, please continue to share...

Joel

[Bhushan Dalvi]

Welcome Bhushan!

Your pelican image has many nice features, it is well exposed and sharp, the head angle is good.

You could make it a stronger image by not cropping it quite so tightly and have the bird more in the upper left part of the frame so there is room in front and below him for him to "fly into". There are some small white spots behind the bird that probably should be removed.

It will be most helpful to others viewing your image and to those critiquing if you include the technical info. with your post.....such as shutter speed, iso, aperture setting, metering mode and maybe some info about where the shot was taken and under what conditions.

Nice first post, please continue to share...

Joel

Joel, I appreciate the great suggestions and compleately agree with you on having more flying space in front of the bird. But this shot was taken in landscape so the bird is at the very edge. Hope I learn over time to frame these better.BTW this was my first attempt at BIF's. The white spots are from the water dripping from his legs.
I will add more technical info this evening.
Thanks
Bhushan

[Bob Decker]

Welcome aboard. Nice detail in the bird. There needs to be some negative space somewhere. Traditionally that space needs to be in front of the bird, giving it somewhere to "move" into. However, putting space behind that bird... somewhere it "moved" from... can work in some instances. That alternate approach sets up some tension, makes the viewer wonder where the bird is going. Doesn't always work but can be worth a try. Strong points in the image for me is the nice diaganol the bird is on, the level horizon and the good feather detail. Give the bird some room and you'll have a winner on your hands.

[Bhushan Dalvi]

Welcome aboard. Nice detail in the bird. There needs to be some negative space somewhere. Traditionally that space needs to be in front of the bird, giving it somewhere to "move" into. However, putting space behind that bird... somewhere it "moved" from... can work in some instances. That alternate approach sets up some tension, makes the viewer wonder where the bird is going. Doesn't always work but can be worth a try. Strong points in the image for me is the nice diaganol the bird is on, the level horizon and the good feather detail. Give the bird some room and you'll have a winner on your hands.

Thanks Bob. I agree about the negative space. I will try and play around with it. MY PS skills are minimum so would have to soon learn to add canvas.

[Desmond Chan]

Agree with others on comments about the framing. The horizon doesn't look level...and some may have problem with it :D:D

And I don't feel the "attack" :)

[John Chardine]

Welcome Bhushan- Nice capture of action for your first post. Birds in flight is not easy but you have produced a nice sharp image here.

Very definitely agree that the bird is way too tight in the frame. It's best to make a loose composition in the camera and then crop, rather than crop tight in the camera like here. To give more room here you could enlarge the canvas and copy parts of the BG to the expanded parts. With this image it would be trivial to do this on top and to the right but the rock LL, poses a problem. And this is all if it fits with your photography ethics. Not everyone feels comfortable making such a drastic edit.

A couple of other things I would suggest- post with no frame or if you include a frame, make it very thin and subtle. Also no real need to "watermark" your image in the middle of it. A small copyright signature on the bottom right or left is fine. A signature within the main part of the image takes away from the aesthetic impact IMO.

[Myer Bornstein]

I agree with all the above. Anyway welcome and a very nice first post. you will learn how to inprove your pictures. I am always learning :)

[Lance Peters]

Hi - Big warm welcome to BPN - Don't hesitate to jump right in and leave comments on other peoples images - no better or faster way to improve your own images, all we ask is that you say what it is you like or dont like about the image.
There is a guide to critiquing on the BPN home page.

Nice first post - not keen on were you have chosen to place your signature - best to have it in one of the bottom corners.
Great advice above and you may want to consider working in manual mode at some stage for BIF - in manual mode - you set the exposure for the subject and then it does not matter what happens in the BG - can change as the bird flys and wont effect the exposure.
Looking forward to seeing more :)

[Bhushan Dalvi]

Agree with others on comments about the framing. The horizon doesn't look level...and some may have problem with it :D:D

And I don't feel the "attack" :)

Desmond, I will try to be careful with the horizon next. Thanks for looking.

[Bhushan Dalvi]

Welcome Bhushan- Nice capture of action for your first post. Birds in flight is not easy but you have produced a nice sharp image here.

Very definitely agree that the bird is way too tight in the frame. It's best to make a loose composition in the camera and then crop, rather than crop tight in the camera like here. To give more room here you could enlarge the canvas and copy parts of the BG to the expanded parts. With this image it would be trivial to do this on top and to the right but the rock LL, poses a problem. And this is all if it fits with your photography ethics. Not everyone feels comfortable making such a drastic edit.

A couple of other things I would suggest- post with no frame or if you include a frame, make it very thin and subtle. Also no real need to "watermark" your image in the middle of it. A small copyright signature on the bottom right or left is fine. A signature within the main part of the image takes away from the aesthetic impact IMO.

John, thanks for all the great advice. I will remember it for my next post. The water mark was just because the pictures are posted on flickr. I need to learn how to add canvas and as you said I am not to comfortable editing the picture so drastically.

[Bhushan Dalvi]

Thanks Myer.

[Bhushan Dalvi]

Hi - Big warm welcome to BPN - Don't hesitate to jump right in and leave comments on other peoples images - no better or faster way to improve your own images, all we ask is that you say what it is you like or dont like about the image.
There is a guide to critiquing on the BPN home page.

Nice first post - not keen on were you have chosen to place your signature - best to have it in one of the bottom corners.
Great advice above and you may want to consider working in manual mode at some stage for BIF - in manual mode - you set the exposure for the subject and then it does not matter what happens in the BG - can change as the bird flys and wont effect the exposure.
Looking forward to seeing more :)

Thanks Lance. I need to read up on the image critique page. I will definitely participate more. I will be more care full with the copyright mark. I have been working in manual mode ever since I got the D90. First few months were frustrating but now I am pretty comfortable with it. This shot was a manual exposure.