First post C & C Please

[supermaughan]

Took a weekend trip to California (Orange County) for a wedding. First time in California. We went for a walk on Oceanside Pear and saw this bird mooching off a fisherman. I did a little RAW processing, crop, and sharpening. (Maybe levels adjustment, can't remember.) I thought it turned out good, which is more than I can say for my wedding pictures. They are all under exposed and noisy. Not sure what I did wrong there. Oh well, I'm new to photography and can't expect miracles.

Tell me what you think of this shot. Canon Rebel XTi with kit lens (18-55mm)
Av mode, f/8, 1/250, ISO100
Focal length 31mm

I did notice that I need to straighten the horizon.
https://home.comcast.net/%7Ejeff_and_karin/images/Pelican.jpg

[stjhie]

A very big bird. As you said, the horizon. The next thing is try not to take until such a closeup, it gets pretty boring. Capture more of the right of the bird and try use the 1/3 rule. Consider making the picture black and white but leaving some parts as coloured. Good luck and have a nice day

[Nick C.]

Wonderful shot! Very vibrant. Great detail.

I sort of find the horizon to be a bit distracting where it cuts across the picture. I wonder if a slightly lower perspective, therefore shifting the horizon lower, would've made much of a difference?

As Stanley mentions, a little extra room around the bird (particularly at the top) may bring a little more to an already great photo.

[supermaughan]

Is this any better? This is the widest I could get so I failed on the rule of thirds in the original.
http://home.comcast.net/%7Ejeff_and_karin/Pelican5.jpg

Here is another shot.

http://home.comcast.net/%7Ejeff_and_karin/Pelican6.jpg

[Nick C.]

Yeah, that's better framing I think. Helps you see more of that lovely gradient in the sky too.

2nd shot's very nice as well.

[T Kubik]

I think I like the composition of the second one better. Nice shots!

[Hellashot]

How did you get such a close shot with just the kit lens? :) All your shots are over exposed some - you can really see it on the bird's head. At least 1/2 stop over, if not a full stop over exposed.

[supermaughan]

There was a guy fishing right next to him and he had feed the pelican some fish. The trick was not getting close enough for him to bite my hand off.

I thought it looked overexposed also. I went by what ACR said by dropping the highlight slider until the blown-out warnings went away. Is there something else I should do in ACR to adjust the exposure?

Is this better?
http://home.comcast.net/~jeff_and_karin/Pelican7.jpg