American White Pelicans

Gallery: AvianPosted March 8, 201297 views9 comments

These white pelicans seemed to be cooperatively sifting the water of a pond for fish in the J.N "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island, Florida.

I just returned from two weeks on Florida's Gulf Coast. This NWR, in particular, provided wonderful bird photography opportunities. However, if you go, bring plenty of no-see-um repellant and medicine to stop the itch from the inevitable bites.

All comments most welcome.

1D Mark IV, 400 mm f/5.6, 1.4x TC, hand held: ISO 1250, 1/1000 s, f/22, 1/3 EV, 6.5 MP (41% of 16 MP full frame), NR, exposure adjustment, sharpening.

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Scott Frye on March 8, 2012 at 5:53 PM

Yellow stands out here with some nice detail in the whites. Looks a bit centered and I agree with keeping the far shore out of the picture. Thinking there might be a bit too much on the bottom and suggest a pano crop to see how that might look

Registered on February 3, 2007, 387 Posts, 1136 Comments

Comment posted by Alan Murphy on March 8, 2012 at 7:36 PM

Nice feeding behavior image.

Registered on December 3, 2003, 192 Posts, 739 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on March 8, 2012 at 8:27 PM

The exposure looks good to me, and I like the image as posted.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on March 8, 2012 at 9:09 PM

Lovely of the pelicans, water and the foreground. I would be tempted to pull up enough of the bg water to cover the shoreline. I don't agree with a pano crop; all that lovely foreground water would go to waste.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 9, 2012 at 12:49 AM

This looks good to me as posted Steve, nice job stepping down to get both birds in focus.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on March 10, 2012 at 1:59 PM

Nice job on all that white without losing any of it. The ruffled feathers are nice. I like the effect of the reflections in the water. Even so I do think you could lose a little on the top and bottom without wasting too much of it.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on March 11, 2012 at 11:34 AM

These pelicans look great on the dark water and detail in the whites is real nice. I think I would leave it as is with no further cropping.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on March 12, 2012 at 10:00 PM

Hi Steve

No problems yet with bug bits here in Quebec

Well composed, with good color, light and detail. agree with Philip on the crop

Albert Darmo
Canada

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on March 21, 2012 at 11:17 AM

Thank you all for your very helpful comments. I can see there is some difference of opinion about the best crop here. I think for the time being at least I'll leave it as is. However, I can see that many comments were directed at removing that dark area in the upper part of the image. I need to be concerned about balance then. However, I can see possibilities there. Thank you all again.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments