Snowy Pelican

Any comments would be appreciated.

David, I think this is the strongest photo in your folder so far. I like the composition of the curved diagonal lines of the wings and beak. However, at least on my moniter, it looks a bit dark. I've attached a revised version which I gave a slight midtone upcurve and some dodging of the colored area. I also removed the yellow in the upper left corner.

Thanks, your version looks better on my monitor also. I lightened the photo from what the camera thought the exposure should be, but apparently not enough. I couldn't decide whether to keep the yellow in the corner or not -- it is a little distracting, and not really an intentional part of the photo, but it also could help the viewer see that there is a second bird in the same posture behind the first one (the yellow is part of the second bird's eye).

Interesting to see the comments above and the changes, though subtle, made an improvement on an already lovely pic. With out having been told, I would not have picked up that the yellow in the BG was another bird. Very nice.

Good shot - curious to see how it would look if the whites were hotter.

I like this; good tight comp/ crop veering towards the abstract. More pop in the eyes and bill would also have been good. Wondering - another 15 percent off left, and crop closer to the head feathers thus squaring?

This exceptional shot just proves that you don't need to blow out others' candles to make yours burn brighter. Please consider that in your critiques.

I agree with all of the above. Tough call on the other birds yellow in BG-I would remove it. By the way I didn't mind your comments on my not so interesting photo. I was actually having much trouble uploading the correct photos and that one should not have been there. Although your comments were frank, greatly appreciated.

Great diagonals both with the head/beak and feathers. Perfect focus, nice feather texture.

Great detail and exposure. The lighting ratio is a little towards the edge of the film's capability, but you managed it pretty well. What I mean is that some fill light might be welcome here, but of course it would have ruined the ambiance, so maybe instead brightening the levels, but burning the top right corner? Kind of what John did, but with a darker top right corner. It's a small point, as was pointed out: a subtle change. Without feathers birds would be totally ugly.

I HAVE STARED AT THIS PHOTO MANY TIMES -- ITS REALLY QUITE STRIKING. THE SOMPOSITION AND DETAIL ARE STUNNING!

I changed the image from the originally uploaded version to a slightly brighter one with the off-color corner cloned out, as suggested in earlier comments.