Skimming the Surface

Image of the Week

This pelican skimming the surface image was taken while on a whale watching adventure out of Newport Beach, CA. If you are ever in that area and fancy some whaling fun, be sure to check out Dave’s Locker. They are a solid company and really know how to be around whales to maximize viewing and photo opportunities. They also do sport fishing if you are interested.

Brown pelicans are a fairly common sight around the California coast. Watching them fly is always exciting to me, but there is something even more special about watching them skimming the surface of the water. Sometimes you can see their wingtips splash the surface. One of these days I’ll be lucky enough to capture that.

Image Considerations

Wildlife images like this can often be spur of the moment situations, as was the case with this shot. Watching the ocean for whales is basically trying to have your head on a swivel, watching about a 270° view, waiting for something to move just right. Sometimes you will see a bird like this flying across, with enough time to line up your shot and track them in flight. That wasn’t what happened here. I was turning my head to scan a different area, and spotted the pelican already at a new perfect distance. I had time for three fast frames while the angle was good. Getting your camera up and focused in quickly is a matter of practice. The opportunity can be gone in a few heartbeats.

Time of Day

This was early-ish morning when we were already on the open ocean water, just before 9am. I always try to take the first whale boats of the day as the shooting conditions are better and the water tends to be calmer.

Image Lighting

The morning light on the water is generally good. It is not overly harsh as can be the case in the afternoon. You also tend to not get wild light reflections off the water. The angle of the sun combined with the shooting angle for the pelican made for the nice reflection of the bird in the water. There are some things you can’t plan with wildlife. Sometimes they just work out.

Camera and Settings

This was taken with my Canon 1Ds Mk III and Canon 100-400mm L IS USM with Canon 1.4x III Extender. The lens and extender give me a maximum 560mm.

• 475mm
• f/8
• 1/2000th
• ISO 640
• Exposure bias +0.7

I tend to shoot in aperture mode, as I want to have control over depth of field. I functionally use my ISO to ensure my shutter speed is as high as I need for whatever the current conditions are.

Editing Inspiration

This image did not take a lot of inspiration in the edit. For an image like this, the goal is to give the bird lots of space to fly into the frame. I like to try and keep the details sharp in the bird, while not bringing out the details in the water. The biggest effort here was to emphasize the reflection of the wings in the water.