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Pelicans and the pecking order
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Pelicans and the pecking order



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Leecamerawork

Leecamerawork
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upload_dateAug, 2014

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2 Comments |
shellysceneit
 
shellysceneit September 07, 2014
holy Dooley no room for humans on the beach
NatureLoverJJWal
 
NatureLoverJJWal October 06, 2014
Fantastic. Voted

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Behind The Lens

Location

Guadalupe Dunes, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara

Time

2pm

Lighting

was fairly overcast

Equipment

Canon t31, Zeiss 135mm. Leitz tiltall tripod

Inspiration

It had been 100+ degrees for too many days and I needed to have some cool air. A trip to the beach with fog and wind was a perfect option and only 40 minutes drive away. I wanted to capture whatever I saw and the beach was mostly pelicans, terns, gulls etc.

Editing

A little tweak on contrast, and a bit of cropping (something I rarely do)

In my camera bag

Canon t31, Yashica 28mm, Zeiss 50mm, Zeiss 85mm, Zeiss 135mm. Extra batteries, memory cards.

Feedback

Patience. Wild birds are understandably skittish and nervous. I used my street photography method of trying to be invisible, casual and nonchalant, walking around them slowly, looking in another direction, not making any fast moves and slowly slowly moving closer. Once I had gotten as close as I needed, it was a matter of watch and wait. There was a definite "pecking order" and very much a birds of a feather moment going on. Terns with terns, pelicans with pelicans as you can see. The primary challenge with all of my camera work is focus. I use older manual primes and also have Magic Lantern installed on all my cards. The Zeiss 135mm is very unforgiving if even a few mm's out of focus. I framed the birds on the beach, watched the pelican coming in to land and rather hoped I had got it tack sharp - obviously it worked. What you eventually figure out is that the birds, like surfers, count the waves. Within minutes of this shot they all raced to the water to catch whatever their lunch was.

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