Pelicans

Superb detail.

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the Elves have seen this week, nor is it a contest.

 

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Wow. Very nice capture. It is very well exposed with a great richness of detail on the feathers. The composition is amazing. The diagonal lines make it very powerful and the rich colors of the beak create such a nice break in the pattern. I love how the two pelicans seem to complement each other as to form a single individual. The eye of the pelican on the back also conveys so much emotion as if it felt confortable, relaxed and protected by the presence of the pelican on the front. In my opinion, this photo delivers great quality in every aspect that makes a good shot. Congratulations for making to POW. - Marcelo.

This is a bit of a dissapointing POW, for me. Maybe becuase I think pink pelicans are kitsch. On the monitor I'm on now, the feathers seem a bit overexposed. I could be mistaken, but it appears as though this is two seperate shots layered.

I cant afford to read all the above discussions but i think the thing that makes this photo the photograph of the week is not just the elves opinion but itself, cuz if you look , you can see the picaso's painting in this photo , specially in the eyes , two pelicans, the illusion of movement of one pelican , makes an eye , double eye , and so the illusion of movement .

 

nice capture :)

Great photo. I love how the picture is a perfect balance between abstract and realistic.

Wonderful color and mood.

great composition.... nicely done!!! 7/7

It is a nice image,I don't know if the color is close to the reallity,but in any case the pose and the cropp about the pelicans is good.My congrats Jim

Thanks for choosing my picture as POW and to the people who have taken the time to comment!

Cheers,Jim

This is a nice picture spoiled for me by the obvious compositing. Maybe a bad picture was rescued by eliminating some horrible background, but the end result doesn't work for me.

 

If the picture needed rescuing, maybe just some abstract feathers could have been used to fill the frame with pink?

Really cool image with lots of interest. The crop is obviously too tight though. A major feature of this bird has been chopped off. IMO it would have greatly helped the whole concept to see the whole beak. Otherwise ,it is a fun picture of an interesting face made from two faces.

this is a very unusual and remarkable picture. the composition shows much originality. the contrast is rather beautiful too and all in all well worthy of being photo of the week.

Great composition, almost to the abstract. Colors are very good as well, not being overly saturated

Interesting melange of beak and plums, hard, vs. soft parts. well croped and an interesting composition Jim. Congratulation.

The composition aspects of this photo have already been well discussed, especially the nice diagonal lines and the two faces becoming one face. An interesting aspect to me is that this is a high key photo, and the bright tone is a color, not white. Typically, high-key photos are white, and quite a bit of the white is a blown-out background. But this high tone area is neither background nor white, but pink. Also, it's not quite blown out, so there is detail in the feathers. High marks for originality in use of tone and composition, IMO.

The color palette and tones on the foreground bird are beautiful, but the photo as a whole

looks like an obvious cut and paste composite with mismatched tones which viewed as a

whole doesn't fill me with awe. It would be an ideal composition if it was two real birds

instead of two photos trying to be one image and failing. Near perfect score from 104

viewers? Trytobeperfect.net

A close inspection does look as if it is two images put together. I didn't notice it at my many viewings, nor my initial study of the picture. I don't think such a thing distracts too much from the overall stunning, eye catching picture. I like it. I like, especially the close cropping. My only concern is color. I have not been this close to a pelican before, but never noticed them being pink. I assume this is a "white pelican," as opposed to the "brown pelican." Is that photoshop at work, something they eat which causes them to be pink, or caused by a warming filter or the sun setting? It's a puzzlement to me. Congratulations on being chosen this week. I looked over your portfolio and congratulate you on many, many fine bits of work. You're good, man.

 

Willie the Cropper

Jim, well done!

Facial colors are basically like a turkey, arterial and venous blood add the reds and blues (oxygenated for reds and deoxygenated for blues). The beak is a little over cooked for me, too saturated. Overall composition and collage are terrific.

Jim, without the beak colors ~ a 7/7 for me.

Dave

I have already commented on this photo when it was still not chosen as the photo of the week. I am happy that it was which allows me further comments.The warm and cosy expressions of the birds lead to the inner feelings of the Birds (sort of capturing the spirit of the Birds)...the contrasting subtle emotions of the subjects are livened by the vibrant colors of the beak without losing anything of the birds expressions.If this was a great catch of a moment or a montage does not really matter :it is the vision of the creator and what it transmits to the viewer that matters most in my opinion .Well Done Jim. Charles

To me this image is about light, great color, and composition, but also much about the crop. You can tell this is the best I would love crop without seeing it, but I'd love see the full size shot for comparison....

The 'official' comment is that your photo is: "interesting and worthy of discussion"..........I beg to differ! This photo is amazing! I think a more accurate term would be "compelling". One, as in ANYONE, cannot glance at this photo without stopping to gaze. It stopped me in my tracks........in fact, it prompted me to join this photo.net forum. The composition is such that the photographer was either extremely lucky,or he waited patiently for just the juxtapositon of the 2 pelicans. The line of feathers on both their heads forms the top of a heart-shape. The colors and detail in this photograph are making me look at his camera as my next purchase. Speaking of which, Jim, if you do read this comment, can you offer an opinion on 2 cameras I'm considering? The Olympus SP550 UZ and the Fuji S6000fd-- both are digital with fixed lenses. Or are you going to tell me that if I'm interested in photos similar to your pelicans, I'll need an SLR? thanks, and congrats on a great photo!

Nanci, this image is probably a digital composite. The camera has little to do with it. It's about post-processing. Your attraction to the image is based on the overly saturated colors of the beak and the contrast of the dark eyes against the light feathers.

 

It's a pretty picture but tells us nothing about pelicans. If you can find me another photograph of this species of pelican that looks anything like this, I'll be surprised.

 

The false pair of eyes is clever, but do not imagine that you're going to go out and find this composition on your next photo outing.

The close cropping also bothers me as a fine artist, if painting this picture, might use the composition of the eyes, but the beaks lead your eye right out of the picture without anything to stop that. Ideally a photo should lead your eye from one element to another, and back around again, keeping it in the image. If the blue and red in the beaks were more subtle, the feathers might possibly lead your eye back in. Many mention abstract art, well many painters dislike abstract art strongly.

 

"Those who can paint realistically do. Those who can't, paint abstract images with no meaning or purpose other than to make a buck. Art is a modality of communication, if it communicates it is a piece of art. Otherwise, it is just another pretty picture."

Abstracts communicate things that can not be expressed with a record shot or any other kind of "artistic" representation of an easily recognizable subject.

 

People are fond of defining something as abstract when they really have no understanding or affinity for it. This shot of a pelican is NOT an abstract image.