Whilst the Pelicans at Tangalooma on Moreton Island are wild, in season, the resort wardens do feed them twice a day if they land. This means that they are reasonably comfortable with quiet, sensitive humans, allowing them to approach to within a few metres.
However, the average excitable tourists who rush at these magnificent creatures with flailing iPhones, shrieking at the top of their voices, are usually disappointed when the birds fly off.
Here are a few goofy photos from our trip yesterday, along with some USA military hardware berthed in the Brisbane River from a previous trip.
As usual, some really great shots there but the subject title gave me reason to pause
with its eclectic mix. But it is true! There really are goofy pelicans and some military
hardware.
It's what you would expect to find on the memory stick of a captured spy's camera
who pretends he is taking pictures of birds but is really interested in getting some snaps
of the latest secret submarine.
Thanks for all the comments; I hope the inside-out beak shot wasn’t too graphic!
The 1st photo was hastily grabbed as the Pelican took off and basically flew down the throat of my lens. The Sun just out of frame high on the right, so the tones are a bit messy as I wrestled with the highlights. Fortunately, the beach sand was acting as a reflector so the underside of the bird wasn’t in deep shadow.
For those interested in the anatomy of the inside of a Pelican’s beak, here is a cropped version showing a little more detail of this amazing structure. I don’t know if the small, dark cylindrical object near the blue vein is some type of parasite?
Very nice shots Dennis!
which lens are you using on pics. 2 & 4 ?
peter
Hi Peter
These were taken with the Canon 300mm F4 L that has become a bit of a wild life walk about lens for my day trips. For the action shots where I am using shutter speeds faster than say 1/1000 sec, I turn off the IS. I have noticed that at slower shutter speeds when I need the IS activated, I can sense the IS “kicking in” and it takes a little time to focus, so I figured if I switch it off at shutter speeds where it isn’t required, perhaps the auto focus is quicker?
The raptor is a Whistling Kite. We have seen these having aerial dogfights with Sea Eagles over territory, although these events have been too far away to photograph, even if you had the Canon 1200mm F5.6L!
Interesting collection of images,although I am afraid am not a pelican fan.
The stand out here ,for me,is the the Whistling Kite.Lovely blue sky,but plenty of lighting underneath bird to see lots of colour and detail.
Was the bird flying over sand,and the beach acting as reflector?Or was this effect bought about in CS 5 (or topaz-I think you said you use),-did you use masks? to get the bird lighter,and keep the sky a nicer darker blue?
Interesting collection of images,although I am afraid am not a pelican fan.
The stand out here ,for me,is the the Whistling Kite.Lovely blue sky,but plenty of lighting underneath bird to see lots of colour and detail.
Was the bird flying over sand,and the beach acting as reflector?Or was this effect bought about in CS 5 (or topaz-I think you said you use),-did you use masks? to get the bird lighter,and keep the sky a nicer darker blue?
Cheers Chris
I love Pelicans! I find these giant birds fascinating in all aspects; from observing a squadron of them wheeling overhead to watching how they land their oversized airframes on the beach. Their size and at times ungainly behaviour seems to fly in the face of the theory of flight. Their legs are narrow at the front aspect and wide from the side, presumably to provide a narrow leading profile for flight yet retain sufficient strength to support their crash landings. I’d seen them invert their giant bills before but I had never glimpsed the complex anatomy inside.
The kite was recorded 1/2000 sec, F5.6, ISO400 which was probably 1 stop under. It was taken around 3:00pm so the Sun was still relatively high, although reflections from Moreton Bay and the beach prevented the underwing areas from blocking up and provided quite a lot of detail to work with.
In these strongly backlit situations I find that the simple application of Shadow/Highlight in Photoshop usually produces a faint glow or aura around the outline of the bird, so I tend not to use it for these conditions.
I use Topaz Direct mainly for “micro contrast” on a separate Layer set to between 25-30% and Topaz Adjust to increase the dynamic range after masking the subject to avoid affecting the background. Again, this is usually applied on a separate Layer set to between 25-30%.
I enjoy a moderate amount of post processing, provided that I have good underlying data. It’s a bit like the magic of watching a print come up in the development tray in the darkrooms of old.
great shots but the last one is insanely sharp!
what a capture!
you can see the value of the prime lens in that shot for sure!
frank
Hi Frank
The Swallow was perched on the ferry superstructure as we were awaiting departure, just before 7:00am, so the light was not the best; it was weak, low and coming from behind the bird, somewhat to (the viewer’s) right.
I wasn’t expecting to be shooting as we had just boarded the ferry and I had the 7D on auto. It was an opportunistic grab shot with the auto program selecting 1/400 sec, at F5.6, ISO160 with IS active – a lucky shot!
