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This is one of my favorite photos recently. I was at the end of the Dunedin Marina pier. Just loitering, if you will, looking for photo opportunities. There was a lady fishing. There was lots of gray sky. There were boats. There were two teenage girls taking pictures of each other. They seemed like the kind of pictures you might take for a boyfriend, or these days, for a MySpace page. Who knows. And there were birds, including pelicans.
I watched a pelican dive for fish close to the pier, and switched to the 'sports' setting on my camera. Then I proceeded to experiment tracking moving birds while using the continuous shooting mode. Finally, I got a good line on a pelican as it started up out of the water, and circled the pier. He was heading back to the piling he had been sitting on earlier. Sure enough, his flight path took him right past the two girls. I did not realize this at the time. I had my eye glued to the view finder as I followed him around. As I brought the camera down and reviewed the series in the screen, I chuckled to see the shot above. It really makes a difference in you click on it and see the large version. Kind of fun, eh?
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Look at that pelican! Yes, a fun shot. :)
ReplyDelete(The comment you left on my blog cracked me up. Sometimes even I have to look closely to find it!)
What I love on this version is the crystal clear pelican and the out of focus teenager. Very nice shot!
ReplyDeleteLOL, that is a neat pic. Looks like its right over the girl.
ReplyDeleteKickin' shot dude! (MySpaceSpeak)
ReplyDeleteseriously, nice action shot and I like the back story. Do you have lightroom? If you can up the fill light, it will help the image and make the pelican pop. Brightening the midtones ion Photoshop will do the same.
Good Job! Keep warm! :)
- Mitch in Minneapolis
Great panning photo. But what I'm most impressed with is your explanation of how you studied the behavior of the pelican and took advantage of knowing where it was flying to. I sounded like something Abe, from Brookville, OH might have done.
ReplyDeletegreat pic wayne. I watched a video of National Geographic nature photog at work and he spent plenty of time studying the subject in order to be in the right place at the right time from great shots, just like you did. Funny how 'lucky' people who work hard at their craft are!
ReplyDelete