![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/american-white-pelican-8509-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-white-pelican-8509-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nSometimes I get more personal satisfaction out of anticipating and guessing right than I do out of getting the shot(s).<\/p>\n
Two days ago, as I was slowly driving north along the last leg of the auto tour route at Bear River MBR, I noticed two pelicans in the canal about 150 yards in front of me and to my left. I could barely see them over the tall phrags that line the canal but I could tell that I was already making them nervous, so they would almost certainly take off as I got closer.<\/p>\n
So I stopped my pickup to do some planning and make some preparations.<\/p>\n
I knew that heavy-bodied, slow-rising pelicans would essentially be ‘trapped’ by the tall phrags on both sides of the canal so when they took off they’d initially have to follow the canal, north or south. The question was, which way would they go? North would be away from me but south would likely force them to fly right past my open window and allow me the opportunity for up-close flight shots. There wasn’t even a hint of a breeze so the direction they chose to take off wouldn’t be influenced by wind.<\/p>\n
So while my pickup was stopped I adjusted the settings on my camera for what I knew would be a difficult exposure (bright white pelicans flying from a relatively dark backgound – first the phrags and then the far away mountains – to a bright blue sky), poked my lens out the window and rested it on my pool noodle, adjusted my window for the best height and then started driving slowly forward.<\/p>\n
If they flew north I was screwed. But if they flew south, following the canal toward me, the action would quickly become hot and heavy.<\/p>\n
They flew south, right past my open window.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This is the first shot I got. They were already close to me so I had to quickly decide which pelican to focus on. I chose the one in the lead.<\/p>\n Notice how dark the phrags are compared to the pelican. Getting the exposure pretty close to ‘right’ on a bright white bird rendered a darkish background. I could selectively lighten the background but that’s not my style.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Now ‘he’ is rising above the phrags which put…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/6400, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n the far away Promontory Mountains in the lower background and blue sky up above.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/8000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Beginning to rise above the mountains.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/8000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Every photo after this one had nothing in the background but blue sky, which I don’t like much. And I’ve left some of the previous shots out because I’m not fond of the flight posture or because I clipped or cut off body parts, mostly wings.<\/p>\n Besides, processing that many photos is too much work…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’m a sucker for detail so I’m including this tightly cropped version of a photo that was taken ten shots after the previous one.<\/p>\n After the pelicans were gone I quickly reviewed my photos of them on my camera screen. I could tell that they were sharp and that I’d like at least some of them and that pleased me. But I surprised myself by being even more pleased that I’d successfully anticipated what might happen and followed through with appropriate strategies that allowed me to succeed.<\/p>\n I wish that happened more often but if it did it wouldn’t be so memorable.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes I get more personal satisfaction out of anticipating and guessing right than I do out of getting the shot(s). (6 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/american-white-pelican-8510-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-white-pelican-8510-ron-dudley\\"")
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