Blessed by the Sun

[Arthur Morris]

After three typically gloomy days and one icy windy day at Lake Kerkini, Greece we were blessed by a glorious morning of sun and warmth.

This Dalmatian Peliccan image was created with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/4000 sec. at f/4 in Av mode.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Clemens Vanderwerf]

Nice wingspread and composition. Love the feathers at the end of the wings. Any reason for leaving the blurred land in the upper left corner?

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Clemens. I think that the land adds to the compositional balance and gives the image a sense of place.

[Clemens Vanderwerf]

I can agree with that!

[Morkel Erasmus]

I love the hint of the hill at the back...lovely exposure, wingspread and pose Artie

any reason for not leaving more space at the bottom to "land"?

[Mikko Viljamaa]

Arthur did you consider at any point removing or smoothing / softening the droplets (?) below the bird?

Thanks,

Mikko

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Lovely bird, gorgeous wingspread and light. Excellent sharpness.
Would have preferred move space below. I like the hill in the bg.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice pose and light

[Bill Dix]

Fantastic wing spread. Great detail and exposure. Ditto Sidharth's comments: like the hill, and would prefer a bit more room at the bottom.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Comp. makes this one for me. Beautiful exposure as well.

[Grady Weed]

I like the land in the image, it does give a sense of place and environment to some degree. The open wings, landing gear down, and head looking where it is going, all add to this very nice image.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

I also would prefer more space at the bottom. Great outspread winds. I love his outstretched feet, not to mention the incoming pose. You must have been very close to the action TFS

[Duane Noblick]

I like the image as is. The light and flared wings is what makes this image for me and being low in the frame gives me a sense that the Pelican is going to land on the frame edge.

[Ofer Levy]

Excellent image! Awesome pose, sharp with good IQ. The land on top left adds a lot to the image IMHO as Artie explains.
Here is a repost with some more room at the bottom and sides, some minor adjustments in levels and colour.

[Art Kornienko]

Nice work on the repost Ofer

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very cool! The effect around thwe wings is the similar to the "burnt paper edges" arts & crafts projects we used to do in school (hard to believe they used to let us play with fire in the classroom). The bit of mountain in ULC is a nice touch and the curled primaries are fantastic!! I like the extra room Ofer gave in his repost.

[Andy Nguyen]

Wonderful capture and excellent PP work, Artie! The main subject really pops out. The dark tips and edges of the feather give the bird a very strong outline. The land at top left corner adds depth to the image. I wish there was some texture in the water space between the land and the pelican's head. Ofer's repost is moving in the direction I prefer.

Andy

[Arthur Morris]

I love the hint of the hill at the back...lovely exposure, wingspread and pose Artie

any reason for not leaving more space at the bottom to "land"?

Thanks Mork et al. I never thought of adding anything below and had no more room there. That said I do like Ofer's repost.

The bummer here is that this bird was one with the killer red (rather than orange) bill but with the straight on view we simply see no hint of red....

[Julian Mole]

Hi Arthur,

I really like this image with it's warm morning light and mist, your capture has frozen both wings in very attractive positions. The original post seemed a little cramped so I prefer the repost with more space at the bottom, but I just thought I would mention that there seems to be an elongated dust mark at the end of the right hand wing inbetween the first and second primary feathers - I would hate it for it to go unnoticed/ uncorrected on such a good image.

All the best,

Julian.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Julian. Could you circle the dust spot: I just examined the master file closely... I do see an elongated darker area between the 2nd and 3rd primaries of the bird's right wing but it looks like a wavelet.

[Julian Mole]

Thanks Julian. Could you circle the dust spot: I just examined the master file closely... I do see an elongated darker area between the 2nd and 3rd primaries of the bird's right wing but it looks like a wavelet.

Hi Arthur,

No problems, I have circled it below and increased the contrast to make it more obvious.

I am sorry for not being clearer in what I wrote, as we just fell foul of the old "my right, or your right?" trap! :-)

Glad to be of assistance,

Julian.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Julian, The funny thing is that mark that you spotted with your eagle-eyes is present in the RAW file but was less easily seen in the optimized file.... I do not believe that it was a dust spot but rather something o-o-f in the distant BKGR. Even funnier is the fact that I missed one chunky dust spot to the left and below the mark you spotted as well as a sort of white dust spot left and below that one. I could not see either of them on the posted JPEG....

In any case all's well that ends well so thanks a stack!