The last few times I've been down to Galveston to photograph pelicans I've noticed this behavior -- the pelican will sit in the water and pound his or her wings into the water creating this huge commotion. Water flying, wings beating. They'll do this for 5 or 10 minutes and then go fly up on a concrete piling and spend the next hour flapping their wings and preening ... the life of a pelican. 200mm, 1/50 sec at f/8, sun setting behind the pelican to create the warm tones.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
A Big Splash
The last few times I've been down to Galveston to photograph pelicans I've noticed this behavior -- the pelican will sit in the water and pound his or her wings into the water creating this huge commotion. Water flying, wings beating. They'll do this for 5 or 10 minutes and then go fly up on a concrete piling and spend the next hour flapping their wings and preening ... the life of a pelican. 200mm, 1/50 sec at f/8, sun setting behind the pelican to create the warm tones.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I love the motion, contrast of darks and lights along with the golden glow encompassing the back of the pelican and water spray.
ReplyDeleteAwesome shot Steve.
This a a very unique photo with the rays of light and splash. A very good bird photo catch. Great Job! Also like the crop.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen splashes that go in opposite sloping angles from each other like that --- did you do any mirroring or something like linear blurring of the highlights (I don't even know if that is possible!)? The light makes such a wonderful glow around his wings and I am always a sucker for motion blur. This is a very different and wonderful shot of a pelican.
ReplyDeleteEven though I am one of the most renowned bird photographers of all time, I have never seen such action by a pelican. Of course, if I had seen it, I would have a photo just like this one. And, I would be most proud of it. Really nice work, Steve.
ReplyDelete