Why did the pelican cross the dock?

To go fishing.. duh..

Here is a couple of more shots of my friendly pelicans. possibly the same ones from my Sunrise set. I took these this AM, it was grey and FFFRREEZZZING (like 40, yeah, thats freezing to us) here in south Florida so I didn't stay long.

These guys fly up to the dock, walk across leisurely, wait for a fish, dive in, eat, fish a little more, then hop back up and go back to the other side. Rinse and repeat. It was pretty fun to watch, especially when there was two of them going back and forth at the same time. I didn't have enough light this grey AM to capture any sharp action shots (@ISO3200 the fastest exposure I could get was 1/100 wide open) but hopefully next time!

C&C encouraged and welcomed (especially on my B&W conversions because I am still learning), thanks for looking!

1.
Why did the pelican cross the dock?

I like them both. Nice B&W

That's hilarious I think the first one works well in black and white as the bird really pops; the second one, I think color would be better to allow the bird to separate from the background a bit more. It doesn't hold as much contrast between bird and b/g as the first one does.

You caption gets an "A." Lol!
Very nice captures, Patrick!

NIce! I would like to see the color version though.. agree with Eric on this one.

I normally dont go for black and white bird photos and much of the beauty of birds is in the colors (to me) but the first shot is really well done.

Thanks everyone for the feedback!! It's things like the contrast between bird/bg in #1 that I don't fully appreciate until someone points them out. And then I say, "Oh! That's why it works so well!"

I'll try #2 in color and see if it's more popular.

Lox

Well done Patrick and a great observation and story.

Because of the multiple suggestions, here is a color version of shot #2

What do y'all think? I like it, about the same actually. I think I just don't like the shot as much compared to the others!

Definitely like this shot better in color; still like the first, B/W conversion the best though. I'd seriously consider getting that one printed up...

Great shots Patrick. I like the B&W, always hard to carry off for wildlife subjects, but I think the colour is better for this subject.

Great shots Patrick.

Excellent shots, I like them in B&W.

I have a newfound admiration for pelicans. We became "friends" a few weeks ago during my trip to South Florida. I even got to pet one in Key Largo

First thing that came to mind was how wonderfully you processed those wings. Your mono looks good.I wonder if just a slight crop on no2 would remove some of the extra 'grey' around the pelican, make him more dominant in the image. While I like the colour, I also very much like the mono. I think it has less distracting elements to it in mono. Good shots.

Lol, love the joke!

Thanks everyone!

catsith wrote in post #16592790
First thing that came to mind was how wonderfully you processed those wings. Your mono looks good.I wonder if just a slight crop on no2 would remove some of the extra 'grey' around the pelican, make him more dominant in the image. While I like the colour, I also very much like the mono. I think it has less distracting elements to it in mono. Good shots.

Lol, love the joke!

Thank you so much!!

I took this suggestion and then forgot to post it up! I think I now like this shot better in B&W again after the crop Thanks!