Another Brown Pelican Dive Shot

[Ian Cassell]

I love the way these guys fish. I think they are the only pelican who does these nose dives into the water.

Taken on St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

Canon 7D
Sigma 100-300mm f/4 @ 300mm HH

1/2000 sec f/9 ISO 400 Av -1/3

Sharpening and small crop for composition in CS5
NR on BG in Noiseware Pro

[gary ellwein]

Ian, well done. The bg and palm make this image more appealing than the your first with the clean bg. The feather detail in the pelican is great.

Gary

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Ian,

Yes, this is a cool shot not sure pano is the right crop but not saying it is not either, lets see what others say (did you try different crops)? There is always an opportunity to adjust the exposure tech in this case the f/9 would indicate a clear and safe aperture. Shooting a wider aperture could blur the background and provide the ability for a faster shutter, as the photographer you make that call. The subject is in an action mode and that is the story here. I might clean up the right edge and the trees on the left edge compliment the image IMO. Nice shot nice . I like the full wing extension and diving position ,what a great moment to witness.

KEEP EM COMING!

[John Chardine]

Super Ian. You stopped the action perfectly. The palm adds a bit of interest to the corner. Overall I think a small contrast boost for the whole image is in order (perhaps a linear contrast curve in Curves?).

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello Ian, great capture and perfect timing. These shots are difficult IMO, hard to make a call on the crop. On the one hand a vertical showing some space above or below would help tell the story, but the landscape crop shows off the plumage better. Either way, well done! I did a small curves adjustment as John suggested, just a slight pull of the curve from the center. Also added a hint of USM.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, all. Kerry, I had tried John's suggestion and like it better too. It also taught me a bit about some of the curves presets that I was unfamiliar with. I tried landscape, portrait, and square crops and settled on the one I posted as my fav.