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Posts Tagged ‘brown pelican’

Flyover at dawn

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , on January 19, 2015| 1 Comment »

Walking along the waterfront of Norfolk, Virginia as the sun was beginning to rise, I noticed a pair of larger birds approaching that were definitely not  gulls. I am not sure what kind of birds they are, but the shape of the bill suggests to me that they might be Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis).

There was just enough light to partially illuminate the underside of the wings and the sky was divided into areas of pastel blue and pink. The flyover of these two birds was a great way to start the day.

Brown Pelicans in flight

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Another look at a brown pelican

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, zoo, tagged , , , , , , , on October 11, 2012| 8 Comments »

A little over a week ago I posted a photo of a brown pelican at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. that was full of vivid colors in the pelican and in the reflections of light on the water. Today, I want to show the same pelican in a different way. I changed the angle of the camera and captured a background that was more somber and simple.  In post-processing I desaturated the colors a bit to place the emphasis on the textures of the feathers, the branch on which the pelican is perched, and the rock in the right hand corner. I toyed with the idea of going completely to black and white, but decided I liked the hint of a color in the beak and part of the pelican’s head, as well as on the branches. The overall look is more somber and perhaps a bit more formal.

I haven’t made my mind up yet whether I like this presentation of the brown pelican more than the previous one, but it certainly was fun experimenting with various settings in Photoshop Elements with the intent of making the colors less bright (usually I am moving in the opposite direction).

Somber brown pelican at the National Zoo

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Brown pelican

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, zoo, tagged , , , , , , on October 2, 2012| 7 Comments »

A month ago the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. opened up a newly renovated, $42 million exhibit called the American Trail that highlights species of North American wildlife. The zoo’s website (which contains lots of information about the animals and great photos) notes that the majority of the American Trail species have rebounded after facing serious threats, thanks to the conservation efforts of many organizations, including the National Zoo.

This brown pelican is part of the American Trail exhibit. I don’t think that I had ever seen one live, and certainly not so close up. I love the beautiful colors of this bird and its wonderful pose, and it seemed willing to cooperate when I was taking the photographs.

Brown pelican at National Zoo

Unlike my photos of the red panda and cheetahs, I was not shooting without obstructions—here was a fence between me and the pelican. Following instructions that I read somewhere recently, I got as close to the fence as I could and opened up the aperture (to F5.6 in this case) and the fence seems to have disappeared.

Now that I have taken a few photographs at the zoo and had some success, I think that I will probably add it to my list of local places where I can find interesting subjects to photograph.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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