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White Pelican Takeoff
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White Pelican Takeoff



White pelican taking off in Sarasota Bay in Florida.

White pelican taking off in Sarasota Bay in Florida.
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cameraCanon EOS 5D Mark II

settings Aperture f/5.6 ISO 400 Shutter 1/5000 

upload_dateOct, 2014

Views

4250

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Awards

Top Shot Award 21
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Superb Composition
joybrandt Laurenrawlings1989 _1837_6465 keerthivadlamudi RODNagual Charlyjb Vicenc +124
Peer Award
billmartin_2615 sunjoy DikHaneline bobhosack davidjprosser Karl-Heinz PoeticVision +92
Top Choice
timothyalbertvclaxton billbrandon henrymclin christinapaz Napoleon biswajitbarmanjr ncruz6@yahoo.com +90
Absolute Masterpiece
Roohi123 Penny9 maribuckley sseasonkakish Debb67 robinh_7535 FPixel +89
Superior Skill
RickL sue-zon djamesbarr andrew37ot alef0 Briser_fae_the_broch RobertPano +55
Magnificent Capture
Macpwm KariG doubleplay johnroden kennyhimes jstgoxo JayneBug +40
Outstanding Creativity
gabrielsosa Holmberg1carin erikalykabaltimore nicoleleopold kelsonsmith RolandozLenz Shadowwkat +26
All Star
cramerimaging marylipkovitchsmithpoore ypopkov cunanephotography krisschultz inkaaaXd Mikisa25 +9
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34 Comments | Report
Robb PRO+
 
Robb December 15, 2014
wonderful capture, splay of wings, feet raising water....and that bill..
alanlarick
 
alanlarick March 11, 2015
Amazing capture- congrats on your award!
JDLifeshots
 
JDLifeshots March 11, 2015
Great shot! Congrats.
DeadEye Platinum
DeadEye March 11, 2015
Thanks, JD! -- Richard--
Remraf
 
Remraf March 11, 2015
Great shot!
LuCreations
 
LuCreations March 11, 2015
Amazing Capture!
chuckrickman
 
chuckrickman March 11, 2015
Truly amazing. Congrats on being featured.
lamarh
 
lamarh March 11, 2015
nicely composed with good detail. timed perfectly. nice shot
FrankSomma
 
FrankSomma March 11, 2015
Perfecto!
MelissaSword
 
MelissaSword March 11, 2015
Beautiful light and detail in this photo, great capture.
Crocrocphoto
 
Crocrocphoto March 11, 2015
Brilliant capture
SusiStroud Platinum
 
SusiStroud March 11, 2015
Great action shot. Congratulations on being featured!!
sweetpea72
 
sweetpea72 March 11, 2015
Amazing shot... Congrats!! ")
jrhalphen
 
jrhalphen March 11, 2015
Love the timing of your shot! Great capture.
tetvet PRO+
 
tetvet March 11, 2015
great shot, congrats
Cchase207
 
Cchase207 March 11, 2015
This is absolutely fantastic!
kathyk_abq
 
kathyk_abq March 11, 2015
Fantastic shot! Congratulations!
cevert
 
cevert March 11, 2015
What a fantastic shot! Congratulations on being featured!! :D
javafoto
 
javafoto March 11, 2015
great capture RW!
AlanJakarta
 
AlanJakarta March 11, 2015
Superb well-timed capture. Congratulations on being Featured.
TonyPillariPhotography
 
TonyPillariPhotography March 14, 2015
Great capture. Excellent detail!
onyanita PRO+
 
onyanita March 15, 2015
excellent capture...congrats on the Feature
mikefinding
 
mikefinding March 15, 2015
Great timing! Love it!
KesPhotography Ultimate
 
KesPhotography March 16, 2015
Looks like this bird is about to do a belly flop! Nice capture!
texaaronpueschel Platinum
 
texaaronpueschel April 04, 2015
Much to like about this one.
gerrytaylor
 
gerrytaylor April 16, 2015
Just brilliant!
jaiarumugam
 
jaiarumugam April 29, 2015
Simply beautiful!!!
AshleaB
 
AshleaB May 07, 2015
Beautiful!
Workshopphotos
 
Workshopphotos June 25, 2015
Very beautiful with clear focus.
sandersmr
 
sandersmr July 01, 2015
I love pelicans but never can capture them well. This is amazing!
KMallus
 
KMallus August 02, 2015
Wow!! Clear and Vibrant Colors absolutely spectacular !!
Danny_martin_10
 
Danny_martin_10 August 18, 2015
Awesome shot, love it.
AliAlzuhair
 
AliAlzuhair August 28, 2015
Nice!
Briser_fae_the_broch
 
Briser_fae_the_broch September 14, 2015
Great timing!
RickL PRO+
 
RickL March 23, 2020
Absolutely stunning composition and photography

Submitted to Photo Contests

Tags

#white pelican #bird #flight #water
See all

Behind The Lens

Location
This photo was taken in Sarasota Bay in Florida. This was one of my favorite photo shoots. My best friend and I had chartered a boat for four hours in the morning. We were the only two on the boat other than the captain. He, himself was an accomplished photographer so he knew exactly what we wanted to do and see. He had been in the area for years so he knew the best places to find many species of birds.
Time
We started just before sunset so we had good light for the duration of the shoot after the sunrise. This particular shot was taken around 9:00 am.
Lighting
The morning lighting was good as the sun was still fairly low on the horizon. We were just starting to head back to shore when the captain said he thought he saw some white pelicans a little further out. He approached them very slowly so as not to startle them. As we got closer he said to get ready because he was sure they were going to take off. Just as this bird was taking off, I got a focus lock on him and maintained it throughout the take-off sequence. This was my favorite shot of the sequence as the wing and feet positions of the bird were perfect and the focus was sharp. It's one of my favorite shots. The captain had extended our four hour charter by at least an hour as all three of us were having a good time and we lost track of time. Needless to say he got a good tip for his services.
Equipment
This photo was shot with my full frame Canon 5D Mark II. The lens was a Canon 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM. Settings were f/5.6, 400mm, 1/5000. ISO 400. The boat was moving very slowly at the time.
Inspiration
One of my favorite topics in photography is birds in flight. I get a lot of satisfaction when the focus is sharp and the other settings are perfect for the light conditions.
Editing
I always shoot in Raw so some post processing is always necessary. This shot only required small adjustments in contrast, brightness, clarity and vibrance. It was also slightly cropped. I used Light Room for the adjustments. My go to application for post processing is now Luminar AI. Its artificial intelligence capabilities have shortened the time I spend on post processing.
In my camera bag
My main camera is now the Canon 5DS R. Its 50,000,000 pixels were impossible for me to resist. My back-up camera is a Canon 5D Mark III for its excellent low light capabilities. The two lenses I use the most are the Canon 24-105 mm f/4L IS USM and the Canon 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L II IS USM. The Canon L-Class lenses produce sharp, clear images. I also have a 100mm macro lens, a 50mm lens and for when I need to travel light and only have room for one lens, a Tamron 28-300mm lens which works well for most occasions. I have 1.4X and 2X lens extenders. Obviously I carry spare memory cards and batteries. I also have several filters. I mostly use a Circular Polarizer and ND filters. I have a heavy duty carbon fiber Gitzo tripod for landscape shots and three types of tripod heads depending on what type of shooting I'll be doing. My bag also contains miscellaneous items such as lens cloths/wipes, a flashlight, gloves, a pocket knife, etc.
Feedback
To try to capture birds in flight, make sure you know your camera's different focus settings. For example in this shot it was necessary to have a focus setting that will lock on to a moving subject. With a Canon camera that is AI Servo (I think it's Continuous Focus for Nikon). I also highly recommend hiring a guide who is an expert if you will be shooting in an area you're unfamiliar with. We could have never gotten shots like this without our boat captain there. We also took a trip to Lake Tahoe about a year ago and hired a local guide there who took us places we would never have found on our own.

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