Pelicans & (sad) Cormorants from Moreton Island

[Dennis]

Hello,

We recently had a week’s holiday at the Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort on Moreton Island, a 75 minute ferry ride from Brisbane. The weather was mostly rainy and overcast which is quite unusual for this time of the year, but as we were only paying $30 per night for a hotel room, we didn’t mind too much! It is such an enchanting, tranquil and beautiful place to stay.

We managed to feed the wild dolphins which was a magical, charming and unforgettable experience but the photo opportunities were somewhat limited by the rain and generally cloudy weather.

Here are a few Pelican shots I managed to grab – they have been extensively processed to improve the flat contrast and muted colours. Sadly, I also managed to get some shots of Cormorants fouled in fishing line – it was quite distressing watching these creatures trying to dislodge the lines and tackle through the camera lens.

Thanks for looking!

Dennis

[astroron (Ron)]

Nice Pictures Dennis
Sure is distressing and annoying seeing those images of the fishing line entanglement

[bloodhound31]

Dennis, the first and second images are AMAZING! So sharp!

What was your lens and settings?

Wow.

Baz.

[Dennis]

Thanks Ron and Baz!

Baz, the 2 Pelicans-in-flight were taken with my Canon 40D, hand held, fitted with a Canon 400mm F5.6L, shooting at 1/1600 sec, F5.6 at ISO400. These were around 8:00am in dull light and I used the Topaz Plug Ins to touch up the flat contrast and muted colours.

The remainder were taken with the 70-200 F4L.

These details can be viewed if you look at the EXIF data.

Cheers

Dennis

[troypiggo (Troy)]

#2 is pretty special. Great capture, eye contact. We done, but as you say, shame about the fishing lines etc.

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Super shots, and likewise really sad to see Cormorant like that.