Pelacins

[u666u]

I would be interested in a critique of this photo. It was taken in 2008 at the weir in Calary. I thought they would not be there in 2009 but they were!! This year I am going to be there!!Gale

[Wicked Dark]

It's an unusual view for sure and I like the intent of the photo. The shutter speed troubles me as I'm not sure it was a deliberate choice or just poor planning. I'd also like to have a bit more balance between the sizes of the birds cut off in the frame. Colors are beautiful though...that aqua is eye-catching.

[Marko]

Lovely shot that imo, simply needs a good contrast boost with more intense blacks. It is also a bit soft - I might try a bit more sharpening

[JAS_Photo]

Cool stuff! Love the aquas and the appearance that they are jumpimg off a diving board into the water. That might just be the angle of view though.

We (Calgary) have one flock that returns every spring and it is growing bit by bit. Most of the pelicans keep heading north. It is also a bit of a well known secret as most Calgarians do not even know about the flock. I have never been that close to them when I have seen them though. I guess we will have to start looking for them again this year. :)

[u666u]

Thanks for the comments as you can see I am a very bad speller!!! Pelican!!!

[Mad Aussie]

I like the feeling of movement in this shot.
However, it does appear that you missed getting anything exactly focused sharply here and I, personally, need to see that. In this case just having the subjects birds head sharp would have been enough.
No exif data to see but it appears the the shutter speed was a bit low for this shot, and still struggling with enough light to get the exposure bang on too.
However, a faster shutter would have possibly lost that movement in the water.

I think I'd have liked to see the centered duck a bit closer up OR ... zoomed in even closer. AS it is, this looks like you cut off his leg accidently to me. Perhaps zooming back and getting 2 of, or all 3 ducks in the shot might have been better. Hard to say from here though of course.

You might find this stronger if you crop in closer to the center duck so you lose that left hand duck and lose a bit more of the right hand duck as well.

On my monitor it looks like the colour balance is slightly off as well. Could be al lthe green water fooling me but I think it has a green cast feel to it as well. You might try adjusting that a little.

Why the hell am I calling them ducks when you have clearly told us they are Pelacins!! ;)
Our Pelicans look a bit different to these so from here these look more like ducks right now :)

It's a nice unique view of the birds though. I like that.