Amer. White Pelican

Gallery: AvianPosted April 13, 201187 views9 comments

I am going to follow Ron with another Pelican post. We get these in the Chicago area during migration and they spend several weeks at a few local marshes and sloughs. I was able to get up close to several dozen yesterday. I like the sharpness of the head area, but not sure what to think about the motion blur of the wing tip. Overall I like it, but curious what others think.

Canon 1D Mk4
600mm f/4 | 1.4x TC
ISO 200, 1/1000 @ f/8, AV Mode, +2/3 comp
LR3.3

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on April 13, 2011 at 11:23 PM

Good flight shot. The detail shows well i nthe larger image. I like the breeding bump on his bill. I don't find the blur in the wings bothersome at all. On my monitor the whites on the underside of the neck, near shoulder and upper wing edge look a bit pushed. I'm not pickin gup the nice detail you have in the feathers on the head which seem to be in the same light. Could easily just be me.

Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Strand on April 14, 2011 at 5:59 AM

A really nice inflight capture of this fellow. I love the coloration and detail as best appreciated in your larger view.
Well done Bryan!

Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on April 14, 2011 at 7:02 AM

A nice looking bird Bryan. Motion in wings tips is fine with me. Shows action and movement. My only small nit is the whites on the leading edge of the back wing seem a bit bright. I am sure motion blur also is part of the reason no feather detail is visible in that area.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on April 14, 2011 at 10:56 AM

Nice flight image with good detail. I agree with the comments already made.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Bryan Hix on April 14, 2011 at 11:16 AM

I agree that especially the left wing lacks detail, however here is the histogram. I don't show any pixels blown in LR?

Registered on June 13, 2008, 117 Posts, 755 Comments

Comment posted by Bryan Hix on April 14, 2011 at 11:30 AM

I toned the whites down.

Registered on June 13, 2008, 117 Posts, 755 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on April 14, 2011 at 2:48 PM

I like the view of the underside of the wing Bryan, the carbunkle and pose of the pelican. The motion blur of the wing doesn't bother me at all, for me it implies motion.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on April 14, 2011 at 7:53 PM

Nice job on the exposure here Brian. I don't mind the motion blur but to my eye the bird as a whole just doesn't look tack sharp. I can't pinpoint why the reason would be and I'm the only one who has said so so I'm not sure really. Is this cropped at all or full frame? I guess I would recommend using a higher shutter speed here as there was plenty of room to increase your iso.

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

Comment posted by Bryan Hix on April 14, 2011 at 11:43 PM

Good point Nate. So one of the things I thought I would try that I never did in the past was use the Auto ISO setting on the Mark IV. I think I might just go back to setting my ISO manually because it does mess with my shutter speed and I don't catch it in time. Interesting concept, but with birds I am just not sure if it works really well. I did attempt to rescue some of the whites from the original, so some pixels might have been too far gone which leads to an image that doesn't have detail in areas even if you back down the blown spots. Thanks everyone for the feedback, I appreciate it.

Registered on June 13, 2008, 117 Posts, 755 Comments