Tis Time for some Pelicans

[Brownbear]

From my recent trip to Mexico, a few of my nicer pelican shots, which I like! Of course, I will keep working on my BIF skills. Getting lower, eye contact and not clipping is still a challenge.

1.



2.


3.


4.




5. (Perhaps the black point is a little too dark or ?)



My favourite is #4, but my friends all like #2 the best.

[Nancy Moran G]

OH My Gosh! Absolutely breathtaking clarity and coloring!
I like #5 because of the "pose", but #1 is fantastic! You can count the feathers in them all.
Excellent,
Nancy

[Bobobird]

Getting lower, eye contact and not clipping is still a challenge.

Places I go to sees many "pros" and "pro" amateurs. Observing how they go about their shoots it appears that this sort of thing is only for us amateurs. All they ever do is shout to each other iso this or that, speed this or that all the while panning with their tripod mounted big guns. Machine gunning is one favourite activity. Scaring away my birds is another.

Pics - top notch. I admire your tenacity and how you have come a really long way in a very short time. We will see you get a NG sooner than later.

[FrankMi]

Fantastic! It looks like #3 is coming straight at you Christina! Great captures, all.

[IzzieK]

Your shots are great but I like #1, #2 and #4. I like the pose of #4 best...

[FootLoose]

I second Bobo's comments, Christina, your dedication has paid off, these are wonderful shots. The second is my favourite.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[deetheturk]

Great set of images Christina,#3 looks like its gonna land on yer head!

[Downrigger]

Great set (as always). Why pick a favorite when they are all so very nice? Can you provide some info on these achievements, Christina? Such as what you're shooting with, and whether there is much crop in these?

[Brownbear]

Thank you to everyone for your comments and feedback, truly appreciated and helpful.

Yes, in the 3rd image the pelican was almost in my face. The tide was high and the waves were huge, and whenever the wave was too large for the pelicans they would fly into shore, so I stood in the water whenever possible or crouched down on the sand, whenever possible (without getting hit by a wave (ie; keep my camera dry)

Mark...

I'm trying to learn to analyze my own photos for quality and appeal, and I learn a ton from all the comments and feedback that I receive from members here. I am often swayed by how pretty the scene is or how cute an image is even if it is not so great. I share my photos with friends and others, and I managed a ton of pelican images frolicking/soaring along big surf, and all of these images are preferred 2:1 or 3:1 the big waves and water even if the focus is not spot on... over images with sharper focus, more detail etc.

My camera is a Nikon d7100 (upgraded from a D80 this summer, and far better for birds in flight) with a Nikon 28-200 mm lens and a Nikon 300 mm F4 lens.

3 is not cropped, 1 is cropped a wee bit to make it less center focused (Center focus point used), and the others are cropped just a wee bit off of one side or the top/bottom (#4) to try and fit with the rule of thirds. #5 is cropped just a bit off of the right hand side and on the bottom, ie; too much space to fly into.

Most of these were photographed at a SS of 1600, exposure bias -.3 (to avoid clipping in the white part of the pelican and the waves), F8-F13 (usually F8-F10), matrix metering (except for #4 spot metered).

I usually start by taking a few test shots of the bird in the light with my camera set to a SS of 2500, F8 and auto iso set to 1600... Then I can see how high an iso my camera wants to choose or how blurred the bird is, and then I will lower my shutter speed ideally I don't like to go below a SS of 1600 for BIF but if the iso chosen is still too, high for my preferences I will lower the shutter speed more. And I can see immediately in my view finder the iso the camera wishes to choose for my settings, so I will adjust the SS and aperture until I see a lower iso, and then ideally set an iso of my choice, below 800 (often 320 or 640) but if the iso is changing all the time or it is an impossibly dark scene, I use auto iso set to a max of 1600.

I'm learning that it is far easier to get a good shot of a BIF if I get close and look for nice light. Some recent eagle photos I took are pretty sad because even though the eagles were plentiful I couldn't get close or low enough and the lighting was poor so I had to use a high iso, so I will have to find an eagle in a better location.

I processed in Lightroom, adjusting the whites and blacks and/or using the curves tool to lighten midtones and shadows (usually but not always), increasing the saturation of reds and yellows by 15, and increasing the vibrancy, and applying an unsharp mask to the raw photo, and the downsized jpeg. (I'm still trying to figure out the best way to sharpen images, and this was just the easiest and fastest way to do sharpen)

Thank you.

[rpcrowe]

I like them all. However, #2 is my favorite because of the bird against the white surf. I am going on a fishing trip to Southern Baja California this summer and, these images have convinced me to plan to bring my long lens for some bird shots...

[ajsmith]

SUPER photos Christina!
At first glance I liked #4 the best, but with a more studied look, I prefer #2. There are nice lights in the waves and the horizon is across the upper third of the photo. The detail and sharpness in the bird are great and there is a good contrast with the dark feathers and the surf.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice photos Chiristina .I most like #2 and #4,but they are all nice:-)

[Mike Buckley]

Christina,

Review your photos of birds made six months ago to fully appreciate the tremendous improvement. Seeing you write about the technique you are using to determine camera settings similarly displays a command of your camera's capabilities that you didn't even know existed back then.