Photographing a flock of 150 Pelicans and learning to use a new Canon 800mm 5/5.6L, I had just removed the lens from the tripod when some birds took flight. I switched to burst mode and for the first time tried hand-holding the lens. Hand-holding was more successful than I would have supposed, though I had some trouble keeping the birds centered in the viewfinder... Of 38 images, I kept 12. What a nice lens!
Canon 1D Mark IV, 800mm f/5.6L hand-held: ISO 200, 1/640 @ f/8, Aperture priority, Evaluative metering +2/3
Sky looks natural and the wing detail on the pelican on the right is very good. I would not show the cut off pelicans on the left side in this picture.
Thanks! I neglected to note that this image is slightly cropped -- it's about 85% of the full frame. I cropped some wing edges that were on the right margin. I was uncertain about the inclusion of the two birds on the left, but decided that they contributed an impression of motion. Thanks for your opinion!
I like the colors, exposure and sharpness of the birds, and the lack of noise in the sky. Here's a re-post with a vertical crop showing just the whole bird, and with more space on the right than the left - is that any improvement?
Yes, I like what Richard Stern has done with his crop, though there's a different feeling to the image -- it looks more like one which might appear in a field guide. Thanks again! This is my first post to BPN (after being an onlooker for 2 years) and I appreciate the feedback.
I like the full wingspan look ,but like others feel that in this case the single bird look is to be preferred.
Difficult to make cut off birds look good except perhaps in very large numbers where this is less noticeable.
The idea of motion is good and think the single bird in full flight does that IMO.
American White Pelicans at Horicon Marsh NWR
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