I captured this photo of an American White Pelican at a wildlife sanctuary in South Florida. I love the texture of the Pelicans skin and how it contrasts with the beautiful white feathers. Let me know what you think!
What technical feedback would you like if any?
I would like to know if you think I missed the focus point in this image or if it is on target.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
I would like to know what the community thinks of the photo overall. I typically shoot landscapes and have just started to get into photographing wildlife.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
This is just a single shot taken with an aperture of F5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/250 sec. I edited it using luminosity mask in Photoshop.
If you would like your image to be eligible for a feature on the NPN Instagram (@NaturePhotoNet), add the tag âigâ and leave your Instagram username below.
@traboldphotography
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
First of all, welcome to NPN, Matthew. I took the liberty to move your beautiful portrait of the white pelican over to the Avian Critiques. I hope that you are okay with that. I the contrast of the white feathers to the yellow skin and beak as well. When brought up into the large view, it looks like about an inch in front it a bit more sharp than the eye, but the eye still looks plenty sharp to me. That dark background makes him pop nicely. Is this full frame, or did you crop down some? If cropped, I might would give him just a bit more room at the top, but that could just be my taste. Looking forward to seeing more of your images.
Thank you for moving this to the proper category! This was cropped down quite a bit. I appreciate your feedback very much. If I may ask a question, do you typically shoot birds with a tripod or do you shoot them handheld? I find that shooting handheld is quite difficult with a heavy telephoto.
You are welcome, glad I could help. I shoot both handheld and on tripod with a gimbal head, and lately have started using a monopod and gimbal head on it. Interesting setup, for sure, but it supports the weight, and I donât have the 3 legs to deal with, which is nice, and still helps some with support. For in flight shots, I have been handholding, but have to admit that I have not mastered that completely, but we sure have some photographers on here that seem to have. Practice is the main thing I think, and find what best works for you and the equipment that you have. I am a petite woman, so âmanhandlingâ a 600 mm lens handheld is not something I can do. I do fairly well with a 100 - 400 mm lens, and anything more than that I have to rely on the tripod. I keep a 300 mm 2.8 on tripod at my window here so when small birds come in the yard for food or water (or just a visit), I shoot through the window.
Matthew: welcome to NPN and congrats on posting an excellent image. The white and orange of the pelican really pop against the black background and the feather detail is brought out nicely. In the small view, the eye looks a bit soft. That softness is confirmed in the large view where the focus point is about 1" forward of the eye. I donât know if youâre comfortable with manual focusing, but often it can be of help when your subject is stationary. Another method is to defocus the camera and re-focus. If you can do this 5 or 6 times, very often, more than one will have the focus point exactly where you want it.
Thank you very much for the reply! I will definitely give that a try. I have another shot that I believe is more sharp on the eye that I will give a try editing.
Welcome and have no nits for you. I like your composition and works well as presented. Its a little tight on top and left, but within reason. Well doneâŚJim
I really like your framing of this portrait and the textures in the feathers and bill, Matthew. You donât mention your focal length, but if it wasnât too large, I think stopping down for more depth of field might have been even better as I find myself wanting the neck feathers to be sharper. That said, the focal plane is right where it needs to be and you achieved quite a compelling image. Welcome to the Avian world and I look forward to seeing more of your posts here.
