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American White Pelican



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American White Pelican; one of many in a flock that have migrated to Florida for the winter. A flock usually stops and stays a while in a pond in north-central...
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American White Pelican; one of many in a flock that have migrated to Florida for the winter. A flock usually stops and stays a while in a pond in north-central Florida on their way further south.
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2 Comments | Report
Photozackman PRO+
 
Photozackman July 30, 2022
Great reflections
SGribbin_Photography PRO+
 
SGribbin_Photography July 30, 2022
Thank you!
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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken at one of our local city parks in Ocala, Florida. Every winter a flock of American White Pelicans visit the two large ponds in the park during their migration.

Time

This photo was captured just after sunrise, just as the sunlight was peeking through the tops of the trees onto the pond. My daughter and I got up early that morning to be to the park by sunrise; about 7:20am. Our focus was bird photography that morning and the ponds didn't disappoint us! At that time of the morning in January, the ponds are filled with bird life from Wood Ducks to Herons. It's so hard to choose a subject because the birds are constantly on the move in and around the ponds and there are so many species to photograph!

Lighting

I wanted to really capture the beauty of this American White Pelican. We have all probably seen more than a hundred pelican photos and while most of those photos are beautiful, I wanted to capture one in a way that was exquisite to the eye in featuring the elegance of these sometimes odd looking creatures. You can see a touch of the early sunlight reflected in the ripples of the pond. In order to not completely blow out the white of the pelican, I under exposed the shot so that I could really bring out the beauty of its white feathers in the digital darkroom (Photoshop). Capturing the photo this way brought out a beautiful smoothness to the water, while also displaying the movement of the water as the pelican was swimming. The white spots you see in the water are feathers; a testament of how many birds frequent these ponds and call them "home".

Equipment

This was shot with a Canon 7D Mark I and Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 SP Di VC USD with hood. When shooting wildlife, I handhold because I find that wildlife does not often offer the luxury of "setting up the shot". You have to be prepared to move, focus, adjust settings, and shoot on the fly or you lose the moment. Timing is everything when it comes to shooting wildlife.

Inspiration

I love photographing wildlife that is in and around the area I live. So many people live their lives day to day going to work, going to the grocery store, running errands, and taking care of their chores, but never realizing the amazing beautiful world they live in right in their own back yards. So I love to photograph wildlife and nature that is so close by to give my friends and family opportunity to see what they seem to not notice. The comments I receive are humbling and often surprising; especially when someone tells me "I never knew we had ____ here."

Editing

Since I shoot RAW, I always post-process to really bring out the image as I saw it and want it seen by my audience. Sometimes post-processing includes cropping the photo too, but not with this one. I didn't have to crop it as the composition was perfect to me. I processed the RAW image to bring out the details of the pelican by adjusting the white balance, exposure, contrast, curves, vibrance, saturation, and a little filtering to enhance the subject. I'm pretty pleased with the end result.

In my camera bag

When heading out to shoot wildlife, I always carry my Canon 7D and my Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 SP Di VC USD with hood. It's the best lens I have at this time for shooting wildlife that requires a zoom lens. One day, I hope to have one of the big dogs that others use that zoom to 600mm. For now though, that's my go-to set up for wildlife photography. I also have 2x teleconverter that I have only used a handful of times; it primarily takes up space in my bag. I always carry a Canon Speedlite, but have only used it a handful of times when shooting a dark burrow or dark area in the woods, where I don't want to crank up the ISO so high and have too much noise in my photo.

Feedback

I am not a professional photographer, but one thing I have learned with photographing wildlife (especially birds) is that timing is everything. There will be days when you go out and you may not find anything interesting to capture. Then, there will be that time that you go out and the bird or deer will be in the perfect spot, with the perfect light, in the perfect pose, and you have your camera ready but forgot to change your settings and boom....you lost the shot because your subject has already fled. Don't beat yourself up when you lose the shot or don't find anything interesting to shoot. Tomorrow is always a new day with new lighting and new subjects. The key to capturing wildlife in all its beauty is through trial and error mixed with great timing, knowledge of your equipment and subject, and a little luck.

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