White pelican long exposure

[Joe B]

I tried an experiment a while back that I thought turned out okay. A group of pelicans was roosting on submerged island not far off of shore. The sun had set already, so I set up the tripod and tried a long exposure. Here's the results. I would be interested to hear what people think about it.

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For reference, here is the uncropped version. I would liked to have not cut off some of the birds, but street light reflections kind of got in the way and seemed very distracting.

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[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

Joe, experimenting is a great thing. Well done for trying.
Slow shutter speeds with wildlife can produce interesting results. In your shot, I find the movement a little unbalanced. As they were standing still, the heads were moving but the bodies not so much. I like the mood of the image. Of course, it's my opinion only.

 

[bleirer]

I think it's kind of cool. I'd clone away that black blob and the surrounding white as it is an area of brightness and high contrast that draws the eye. Also my eye is wanting the repeated pattern in the reflection to be perpendicular to the bottom of the frame. They are just slightly askew and whatever reason I'm noticing it in a distracting way.

 

[Joe B]

Joe, experimenting is a great thing. Well done for trying.
Slow shutter speeds with wildlife can produce interesting results. In your shot, I find the movement a little unbalanced. As they were standing still, the heads were moving but the bodies not so much. I like the mood of the image. Of course, it's my opinion only.

Thanks for the feedback. I have to say, I didn't care for the picture immediately, but it's so different than my other shots I kept coming back to it. It is a bit odd with the bodies more or less sharp and the heads and wings all blurred, so I get not liking it. I think that's come to be one of the things I like about it, though, showing the motion as they were all preening at the end of the day.

I think it's kind of cool. I'd clone away that black blob and the surrounding white as it is an area of brightness and high contrast that draws the eye. Also my eye is wanting the repeated pattern in the reflection to be perpendicular to the bottom of the frame. They are just slightly askew and whatever reason I'm noticing it in a distracting way.

Thanks. I hadn't noticed that the reflection wasn't perpendicular, so I'll take a look at that. The black blob with the white is a wing that moved less than others. Maybe I have another version where that's less prominent.

 

[NorthernFocus]

Nice idea. The sharp legs and blurry heads don't work for me. But then again I'm a guy that doesn't even like panning shots. So take my input for what it's worth.

 

[PhotonThief]

I keep coming back to it too, I like it. I think maybe because there's something attractive about the soft feel and I definitely get winter twilight out of it. If this were mine I would be trying things to push the limits of what looks like a creative take but I don't know your tastes.

 

[SBurkholder]

I tried a different crop on the photo. I added a little more foreground and liked how the reflections drew you into the subject. See what you think.

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[bajadreamer]

I agree with Dan-the bodies are sharper than the heads which is distracting. I do like the recrop (more foreground) better. Cloning out the floating buoy in the upper middle would help.