Sunday, February 26, 2012

The Pelican and the New Camera

Besides the new camera, I also bought myself a fishing pole and gear.  I haven't been fishing for thirty years, but I used to really enjoy it. 

I also enjoy photography, and one set of pics I wanted to get since we started this cruise was of pelicans.  I never saw one in person before.  I always thought they were clumsy, goofy looking birds.  They're anything but.  They're graceful in flight, and maybe they're not beautiful, but they're not ugly.  Well, not too ugly.

I bought my Georgia fishing license online, $45 for a non-resident, good for a year.  I walked down to the end of the dock and spent a few hours dragging silly lures through the water that I'm sure cracked up the fish.  "Look Charlie, here it comes again!  HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

While I was out there, a pelican was also trying to catch fish.  I ran back to the boat and got my camera with the telephoto lens.  Here are a few samples of what the new camera can do.

I finally got a pic of a pelican as he hit the water.   I always assumed they hit the water with their beak open to scoop up fish.  Not so.  Look at the minimal splash his head made.  If this was the Oympics, it would be a perfect 10 by all three judges. 


The photo above is the original.  The photo below is after I cropped, sharpened, and color balanced it.  I used Nikon software that came with the camera.


My photography was progressing much better than my fishing.


Pelicans are amazingly graceful in flight.



I really like the photo below.


In dog news, Pam took Chevy to the vet today.  The vet put a new bandage on Chevy's paw and made an appointment to go back on Monday.  Chevy may need to have the cut opened up and restapled.  We'll see.



So we may not get any farther south this season since one of our crew is down and out, but we planned on heading north in a few weeks anyway.  We'd like to be in Washington DC for the cherry blossoms, and there's this big party and raft up with friends in May.

1 comment:

  1. Great Photos with your new Camera. Like the close up of the Pelican in level flight.

    Joe

    ReplyDelete