On my bike ride home from work, the Spring Creek Bike Trail passes by a small pond and series of marshes. On Thursday night, I spotted a woman taking photos of the pond with her phone. I turned to look and saw these two American White Pelicans sitting on a submerged branch. Thankfully, my regular camera was packed in one of my bicycle’s panniers. I was able to make a number of shots from the bank before the birds swam out of range. White Pelicans are big birds, and one my favorites. They are distinctive and recognizable in flight because of their size and black tipped wings. The bumpy plate on their upper bills indicate they are adults in breeding season. I usually only see them on larger lakes, so seeing them on my bike ride home was an unexpected treat and became my favorite image of the week.
White Pelicans
Fujifilm X-T2, Fujinon XF 18-55 f/2.8-4 R LM OIS at 55mm, f/8 at 1/60, ISO 400.
Digital Darkroom. I was close to the pelicans… but not this close. Post-processing started with a significant crop. I made an attempt to remove the sticks, but this was beyond my skills and my iPad apps. I settled for tweaking exposure and contrast. I lowered clarity in the image, giving it a slight blur. I then used a brush in increase the clarity on the birds themselves, bringing back the detail in the feathers.
WIRR stands for Weekly Image Rich Ruh. This regular feature on Das Has von Ruh will show and describe my favorite photo created during this weekly period. My weeks start on Mondays, as does the WIRR. I’m hoping to include commentary on the story, the setting, the specs, or the sentiments, depending on the circumstances.
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