Shot this near Little Rock, AR, when I was there for Christmas (during a quick break from family). Found these guys the day before and came back the next morning. They weren’t very friendly, so it took quite a while to figure out how to approach them. Eventually had some success while hiding among some reeds on the bank and waiting on them to come by. Very overcast day. I shot this around 11:00 a.m. The delay in figuring out how to get in photographic range was actually a blessing because the overall light level was much higher than it was at daylight, which let me lower my ISO substantially.
Techs:
D850
500mm AF-S II + 1.4x tc
1/2000
f/7.1
ISO 640
Ran levels on the bird and used a luminosity mask to dodge some of the whites on the neck because they were gray-ish and dirty. Darkened the background and used a luminosity mask to burn some distracting elements. Resized and sharpened. I think I probably ran some NR on the BG and FG, but I don’t specifically remember doing that. Cropped a bit for composition. I still think it might need a bit of CCW rotation.
All comments welcome.
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Hello, Lyle - good you found a spot from where to shoot ! Pretty impressive birds. You managed well on the techs. The image has a slightly tilted feel to it, but on closer inspection it seems straight … Best regards, Hans
The whites look excellent and I like the dark BG…
I think a bit off the bottom and a bit more on top with more of the dark BG if you have it would look good.
Nice job on the processing, Lyle. A lovely image. The rotation is extremely difficult to judge on this kind of image, but visually it does look like it could use some and that’s what really counts.
Superb point of view on this pelican image. Perfect exposure to bring out detail in the white plumage. I think you got the angle as far as I can tell but this one is difficult due to the reeds in the background being less than horizontal. Last time I was in Little Rock was a Fourth of July weekend and it was exceedingly steamy with 99+ percent humidity and temperatures in the 90s. Just as wet then for as it is for this pelican.
Hi Lyle! Excellent exposure showing the detailed whites. Nice processing on the background. I like this comp but I could also see trying a tad off the bottom and maybe a little more on the right.
… Best regards, Hans