Rosy Pelicans. & Bar-headed Geese

Pertinent technical details or techniques: Canon 5D IV; 500 mm; 1.4X; ISO 640; 1/1600 sec. at F 6.3

(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)

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This is a beautiful image with incredible light, color, and action. The warm brownish tones work so well here. You are certainly in the right place at the right time. That said, I’m a little confused. The larger bird in perfect focus appears to be closest to you and the following bird in flight is slightly out of focus as are the two geese in the water. Yet behind the two geese there are some grasses in the water and shaded glasses connected to those which seem to be in perfect focus. The farthest away pelican? Is out of focus yet the background trees seem to be more in focus than the farthest away pelican. Perhaps you can explain this. The background is quite busy in the upper aspect of the image could probably be a little more out of focus so I did this using Photoshop tilt shift and added an extra 5% of blur to the top of the image to concentrate more on the pelicans in flight.

Hi David!

Thank you so much for your interest in the image!
Actually closest to me are two geese, which are oof and the front pelican and the grasses in the water are at same focal plane, that’s why they are sharp. And the background trees give impression of sharpness because of their size, actually they are not.
Just hope it clears the doubts.

I really like the nice warm browns through out the photo. It gives the photo a comfortable feel. The photo is also an excellent example of what can be done with side and/or back lighting. Very nice. Even tho the photo is busy it shows off the environment these pelicans live in and highlights the pelicans. Well done. And if I had a wish it would be to see what the photo would look like with the pelicans a bit more left in the frame. They seem a bit centered. And I can’t tell if you had to open up the shadows on the pelicans and if there is any noise or not but looks good to me.
Photo is definitely not a bird on a stick and I like it.

The light and glow makes this one for me as well as the nice detail in the forward pelican. I like the large tree in the background and how it parallels the pelican’s wingspan. I also like the seeing the environment. Nice capture.

Thanks so much for your reply and explanation regarding the depth of field and placement of objects in the frame. Makes sense now. And I still really like it.

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