An evening with Pelican...

WOW Ben this is certainly a shot. Absolutely gorgeous!!

Fabulous shot. Just gorgeous -- the lighting couldn't be better.

Amazing image Ben! You could sell a million prints of this shot. When I come over there could you show me how you did that? I love those pelicans! I'm drooling to get some shots of them.

Jetjoint wrote in post #8864053
Wow .. Fantastic!

Thank you very much!

Duane N wrote in post #8864081
Beautiful light...I love the mood this image sets.

Thanks Duane!

Tbirder wrote in post #8864085
Insanely cool, the light on the bird's wings is awesome

After the shutter went off and viewed thru the LCD, I knew that I got something to work with, but the lighting, I was very happy! Thank you for your comments.

Cyclop wrote in post #8864153
Beautiful capture.

Thanks again for your kind comment!

Mtn Breeze wrote in post #8864214
Holy heck Ben ..... what an awesome shot !!!

Have you done anything with that black-as-black BG or is that all natural ??
It almost looks like a flash fired shot in complete darkness.

Fantastic image.

Matt.

Hi Matt,

The background is almost all natural except for a few small distractions. I have to clone it out. But I would say it was about 95% natural due the shutter speed that I've chosen: 1/3200 to keep the background dark. But, I have to bump my ISO to 650 to light up the Pelican with my 400mm f5.6 lens wide open. Manual set up was the only way to achive what I was searching for. It was all 100% natural light with no flash. And the rest, timing and got lucky! Thank you for your comment.

sparker1 wrote in post #8864224
Magnificent. Put that sucker on the wall.

You bet! I will do that. Thanks for the comments!

Scrub wrote in post #8864239
What he said.

Well done.
Stuart.

Thank you Stuart!

dreameruk wrote in post #8864262
this is a cracking shot

lea

Thanks for the kind words Lea!

canonloader wrote in post #8864292
Beautiful catch. I'd be printing that one big.

I will do that this weekend. Thanks again for your wonderful comment.

dbriz wrote in post #8864666
Gorgeous composition... terrific light & tone.

db

Thank you db!

snowyowl13 wrote in post #8864693
That's beautiful.

Thank you snowyowl13!

Eric Rivera wrote in post #8864774
WOW WOW wow wow, i like this, the light at the wings is what really impact me.
Believe me this is a great one.

Thank you so much Eric. That means alot to me! Very much appreciated!

Tiger1 wrote in post #8864940
Absolutely beautiful !!! It's almost like the pelican had the only source of sunlight on earth - man that's really a nice capture.

HUH - you know that you're gonna cost me some money if you say you really, really, really love this camera!!!

Do you use your 2.0 TC with your 400mm on the 7D and if so, does it distort the clarity any at all, in your opinion?

Gene

Actually, that was the only light from the setting sun got thru the surrounding trees. And lucky enough, the pelican picked that spot for his landing! I have to thank him for that. Yes, I really really really love this camera and it's only about 14 days since I bought it. There, now go out and get one Gene...

No, I haven't tried the 2.0 TC with the 7D. But, I have used my TC with the 400mm only with my 30D. It was in a very low light situation so I can't comment on it at this time. Since I've bought the 400mm, I haven't use it all. The 400mm is a fantastic lens itself.

Thank you for your comment Gene.

Shar824 wrote in post #8865206
WOW Ben this is certainly a shot. Absolutely gorgeous!!

Thank you so much Sharon for your kind words!

jgrussell wrote in post #8865268
Fabulous shot. Just gorgeous -- the lighting couldn't be better.

Thanks again for your wonderful comments jgrussell.

ajosteve wrote in post #8865337
Amazing image Ben! You could sell a million prints of this shot. When I come over there could you show me how you did that? I love those pelicans! I'm drooling to get some shots of them.

Thanks Steve! And absolutely, I will take you to that very spot anh I will share with you my setup. Only thing that I can't promise is the presence of the Brown Pelican...so keep your fingers cross.

You nailed it on that one. It would be on my wall.

A beautiful and very striking image Ben.

I generally don't encourage gambling, but if that was a lucky shot... you should definitely buy a lottery ticket right away!

excellent,

Kenn

ajosteve wrote in post #8865337
Amazing image Ben! You could sell a million prints of this shot. When I come over there could you show me how you did that? I love those pelicans! I'm drooling to get some shots of them.

I'm going too and I'll bet there are more who would join us !!!

Ben, he's right, you could sell many of this particular shot; I exhibit my watercolor art in about 20 fine art festivals a year and see a heck of a lot of really good photography in the shows, "BUT", this shot is without a doubt a "winner" - artistically as well as its marketability. I can just see this piece expanded into a panorama with a rustic frame - it's a can't miss !!!

Gene

WOW! Really beautiful shot.

Wow, Thats one of the best shots I have seen in a Long time, the Lighting is Truly amazing!!!! I would bring that to Full life in a Very Large format to be placed on the wall...

Dan

Ben, could you explain how you did this? I'm getting one of these, and am more than a little curious about the new metering mode for different light in the same frame.