Pelicans

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Nikon N50, Nikkor 70-210 f/4-5.6 AFD
Taken in Audubon Zoo, New Orleans, LA

-- Lionel Zhang (lionelz@geocities.com), September 22, 1998

Answers

Probably could do with about a -1/2 or -2/3 stop of compensation. Subjects are a bit too centered. Positioning the pelicans in the upper part of the frame would bring in the reflection and take out the dead space above the pelicans and duck. The ripples in the water would probably add some excitement to any water that was added at the bottom of the image.

You might also wait around a little bit to see if one gets up to scretch out. The two at rest is a bit boring.

-- Joe Boyd (boydjw@traveller.com), September 22, 1998.


I'm probably in an overcritical mood today, so bear that in mind!

What are we supposd to say about this? It's a snapshot. Two overexpsosed pelicans sitting on a dead tree in a zoo, with dirty grey/green water around them, an out of focus duck/pidgeon (?) in the background and some floating debris around them.

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), September 22, 1998.


Technically this image fails miserably. Conceptually and in terms of timing it's a nice effort. The way the tweedledee/tweedledum pelicans seem to have drawn the duck's attention down the axis of the frame gives the picture a certain charm.

-- Richard Shiell (rshiell@lightspeed.net), September 22, 1998.

I didn't think that Bob Atkins was too harsh at all. As a matter of fact, I am surprised this wasn't deleted for minimum standards.

Having said that, we all have pictures like this one. I am assuming that you submitted your picture here because this is one of your better pictures and you were comfortable taking suggestions.

Here is my suggestion. Don't get too down about the comments for this picture, all comments that I have read were on the money. The best thing to do, is to look at the things that are wrong with this picture, and go back and re-shoot. Thats the great thing about zoo photographs, the subject is still there the next day !!

There have been excellent zoo photos submitted to this site. Even if you took this picture in a "wild" setting, you still have to control the background, lighting, exposure, framing, etc...before you move on to harder subjects, you should challenge yourself to re-take a Pelican piture until you get one thats perfect.

-- Matt Swope (vswope@voyager.net), September 23, 1998.


Thank you very much for the comment and suggestions. Sad as I am, I have to admit that there is a long way for me to go to take perfect pictures - but I'll keep trying, anyway.

This Image Critique Forum is a real good one because you can learn a lot here. I'll keep on reading this forum but will be more cautious on putting pictures on later. Thanks again.

-- Lionel Zhang (lionelz@geocities.com), September 23, 1998.



Lionel - don't be too discouraged - I don't think a "perfect" image exists. I assume you are a beginner, and you can learn a lot from looking at the critiques in this forum. You will find even images that make your jaw drop, someone has a complaint or an improvement suggestion to make. The key is to keep burning film and learning from your mistakes.

Your image here is a good example of how the camera's meter can fool you. The bright white of the pelicans combined with the rather dark reflective background caused an improper exposure. Also, a key point to remember about good composition is this: If it isn't contributing to your image in some way, then it is distracting. Therefore you have to ask yourself if the small bird in the background is helping your main subject.

Mark

-- Mark (Grafphoto@aol.com), September 26, 1998.


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