Pelican in late afternoon

[Hazel Grant]

Came flying close by. Nikon D40x, 1/1000, manual, f7.1, iso400, 300mm.
very slight levels adjust and a high pass and small crop.

[Steven Grogger]

I like the crop and the lighting on the head. Possibly brighten the dark tail area?

[Julie Kenward]

Hi Hazel! Nicely done although I do agree that the back tail area is a bit dark. The front wing is not in the best position but you did great at capturing detail throughout the bird while leaving the BG softly muted. You might also look at sharpening around the eye just a bit more.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Hazel - after looking at this I would add a little more sharpening to the entire bird selectively of course - and some NR on the background.
You could try a little Shadow /Highlight on the tail area - but will introduce noise - any under exposure will result in Noise when you try and adjust after the fact.
Like the light - as mentioned wing position not the best - great birds to practice on as they are big and relatively slow.
Keep em coming :)