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Brown Pelican Pano
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Brown Pelican Pano

by Mia McPherson

Gallery: AvianPosted February 24, 2010192 views20 comments
Pelecanus occidentalis and one Sandwich Tern

This was taken in Florida on a day when the light fluctuated often but was always very pleasing, there was a great deal of bird activity just off shore because of large schools of bait fish.

D200, HH, standing, f6.3, 1/800, ISO 200, 80-400mm VR at 250mm, natural light. This is the full width of the orginial frame, cropped to pano. A very OOF tern was cloned from the lower edge of the frame and the wing tip of another pelican from the right side of the frame. 56% of the original frame. Please view the larger image I have provided to evaluate.

As always, I sincerely appreciate your comments & critiques, thank you for looking.

Comments

20 comments
Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on February 24, 2010 at 9:23 AM
Mia,

I love watching formations of BRPE fly along the coast, so I like this a lot. I like the interesting sky/light, the variety of poses and the good separation/differentiation of the birds. Although I wish I could see it even larger to see more detail, that is really not what a shot like this is about. Quite nice. :toast:
Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments
Comment posted by Sally King on February 24, 2010 at 10:25 AM
I love that most of the birds are so nicely separated. Great light you always find. The oddball other bird makes me laugh. Wants to be a pelican too? Wish I could see something like this in real life. Need to get to a coast sometime.
Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments
Comment posted by Steve Balke on February 24, 2010 at 10:39 AM
Powerfully, pleasing pelican pano, Mia. The light and sharpness are quite something to see. I too like the presence of the oddball bird. My only suggestion is that it might be a little crowded. The pano format looks good here but three of the birds are pretty close to the edge of the frame. :toast:
Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments
Comment posted by Howard Cheek on February 24, 2010 at 11:11 AM
Nice light and view from the front Mia..I like the single gull left too :smile:
Very Well done, I like this :toast:
Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments
Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on February 24, 2010 at 1:30 PM
The fact that you caught all these in good focus at 250mm, tracking close to your position, speaks volumes for your skill. Moreover, you caught them with a lens that is notoriously slow to focus! These birds are fast fliers! Oh well done, Mia!! :toast: :toast:
Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments
Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on February 24, 2010 at 1:31 PM
Very nice, Mia. Nice job getting all of the heads in view. That can be really tough shooting groups of flyers. The little sandwich tern is really neat. Really nice lighting on all of the birds. This is one of those images that is tough to appreciate in such a small view. This would look awesome really big.
Registered on February 6, 2008, 168 Posts, 3118 Comments
Comment posted by KC Choo on February 24, 2010 at 2:32 PM
I have no nits or suggestions to make, Mia! Love everything about it, and the Tern is very nicely included!
Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments
Comment posted by Simon Bennett on February 24, 2010 at 2:40 PM
Pano crop works well, and well done gett all the birds seperated and in focus. I like the background colour too.
Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments
Comment posted by Mauro Pasquero on February 24, 2010 at 3:04 PM
Great shot Mia, I like this picture very much.
Mauro
Registered on January 21, 2010, 650 Posts, 2500 Comments
Comment posted by Ed Dubois on February 24, 2010 at 3:30 PM
Neat shot Mia. The tern really adds to the composition IMO - I like the asymmetry.
Registered on February 22, 2005, 129 Posts, 4739 Comments
Comment posted by Roy Bailey on February 24, 2010 at 3:31 PM
Funny how such a small bird can give a sense of ballance.Not an easy shot to get right but this works. Nice range of ages and differing plumages. Pelicans in flight always make me think about that end scene in Jurassic park. :smile:
Registered on November 16, 2008, 24 Posts, 486 Comments
Comment posted by Michael Lotito on February 24, 2010 at 6:51 PM
Very pleasing bird formation. Better by the dozen!
Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments
Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on February 24, 2010 at 7:39 PM
Makes me long to be standing in the surf watching them fly by. A pleasing image with nice detail on all the birds. Sharon
Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments
Comment posted by Dan Moore on February 24, 2010 at 7:46 PM
Amazing! I struggle to get one in focus.

I like where they are in the frame. It looks natural.

Dan
Registered on February 11, 2010, 143 Posts, 1248 Comments
Comment posted by Nate Chappell on February 24, 2010 at 8:29 PM
I like it Mia, the panow works well and good focus for all of them. :toast:
Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments
Comment posted by Doug Backlund on February 24, 2010 at 11:23 PM
I like this alot, there's lots to look at here. You caught this at just the right time to get good separation, not too crowded IMO.
Registered on September 29, 2005, 252 Posts, 3380 Comments
Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on February 25, 2010 at 5:59 AM
Nice formation agains the sly, filled with light clouds.
Jagdeep Rajput
Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments
Comment posted by Rob Drummond on February 25, 2010 at 6:21 AM
Nice comp Mia i like the way the number of birds taper off to the left

cheers
Rob
Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments
Comment posted by Graham Brown on February 25, 2010 at 7:25 AM
Pano works really well on this image Mia. You've done well to get the birds separated rather than being covered up by one another. Still amazes me why they never touch.Detail and sharpness is excellent as always. Graham
Registered on November 20, 2007, 275 Posts, 1365 Comments
Comment posted by David Sparks on February 26, 2010 at 9:21 PM
Mia:
Very nice light and I like the formation pano, especially with the singleton gull/tern included. Good job recruiting pelicans with such nice plumage for the photo session. :toast:
Registered on May 26, 2007, 290 Posts, 4270 Comments