When pelicans, other birds, dolphins, or sea turtles get into our panning wave shots I always teach people to try as hard as possible to see if they can pan them precisely at the speed they are moving (and pan them as they come and as they go all the way across the horizon). YES, these pelicans were in the image. No, its not easy to pan moving objects and keep them still! But here on the beautiful Florida coastline we can try like crazy! Most of my clients go home with having taken many thousands of images. Quite often they are surprised and it works out!
If interested, check out a cool technique I used below.
Post Processing: although in the file the birds are quite sharp already, I decided to isolate and crop them both separately, then save them as a separate files with minimal area around them. Then using Gigapixel (knowing how it can do birds pretty well sometimes) I sized them up 2X and found ideal settings for them both. Sometimes certain AI systems are familiar with certain subject-mater (such as birds) and can sometimes do a better job at the sharpening.
Next, I brought both 2x size images back into Photoshop and sized them back down to original size (exact pixel dimensions) then pasted them into the original document. Then using the Layer Blend Mode "difference", I was able to get them perfectly on top of the exact originals. Then pulling in a certain opacity I was able to get better sharpening definition on the faces (like the eyes) and some of the feathers. I left most of the original blur ghosting on the edge of the Pelicans (caused by the panning). In the big enlargement you can see a bit of movement in them, but they look great. It was a sporadic idea to overcome the limitations of my equipment. And one in which I teach clients.
Sony A7R2
Canon 70-200 f/4
f/45
174mm
1/6
100 ISO
Tripod with a very SMOOTH panning head (RRS B55).
1000's of shots. 😁
I cannot remember if I had posted this one already or not...
That's really cool that how with the slower shutter speed to smooth out the waves, the birds' reflections are showing in it! Would never have thought it.
Very, very cool image Mark! I love the texture in the waves and the sharp definition of the birds. The processing technique you describe is one I'm going to work on. Just about the only way I can imagine to pull off an image such as this one. The result feels very natural and not contrived in any way. The birds were there, the waves were there and both are presented in a pleasing and artistic way. Very well done! Steve
