I used to do realistic wildlife paintings when I was younger. I never seem to find the time to do them anymore but now that I have more time I've decided to do a painting of a Brown Pelican.

I took several pictures while I was in California (Morrow Bay/Cayucos) during Christmas and I composed this photo(s) for my layout and reference. The finished painting will be around 4 ft by 2 1/2 feet. I have a townhouse in Cayucos and I plan on putting it on a tall wall at the landing which is halfway up the stairs.





Below are some photos I used to piece this together. I photoshopped them into one scene. I took about 200 pictures in all These pics are from different days but I think I have the lighting right merging them together. There is a flat spot on the pelicans rear end that I'll fix when I do the painting. The feathers on his back are from another bird shot. I just thought they looked more interesting. There is also a large water drop at the end of his beak I got from another bird. It's hard to see but it won't be at full size.



These pelicans were great subjects. I could walk right up to them. They're on top of a storage shed behind a fish restaurant on the bay. The workers would throw them the fish carcasses after they filleted them.






This is the shot I got of the waterdrop on his beak.


As you can see the rocks were a completely different color. My wife got me a nice camera for Christmas (she is also a painter). Below is a good example of what it can do. It was less than 300 bucks. His pouch looks like its made of wool.



Why am I showing you all this stuff? I'm bored today........very bored.

I'm no photographer, but the image quality is amazing in those shots.

GermantownTiger Wrote:I'm no photographer, but the image quality is amazing in those shots.

Yeah that camera is something else. I didn't use a tripod or anything. It's a Cannon A720A IS ......8 megapixel. I just saw it at Sam's Club for $214. I paid over 300 for my wifes a few years back and it's not even close to the quality of this camera. The software that comes with the camera allows you to sharpen the shots (unsharp mask setting) even more. That is what I used on the pelican head shot. If you have photoshop you can do the same things of course.

You should see some of the shots I've taken with the macro (closeups) setting. The digital cameras right now are amazing. They've made great strides in the past couple years.

Chi-TownTiger Wrote:

GermantownTiger Wrote:I'm no photographer, but the image quality is amazing in those shots.

Yeah that camera is something else. I didn't use a tripod or anything. It's a Cannon A720A IS ......8 megapixel. I just saw it at Sam's Club for $214. I paid over 300 for my wifes a few years back and it's not even close to the quality of this camera. The software that comes with the camera allows you to sharpen the shots (unsharp mask setting) even more. That is what I used on the pelican head shot. If you have photoshop you can do the same things of course.

You should see some of the shots I've taken with the macro (closeups) setting. The digital cameras right now are amazing. They've made great strides in the past couple years.

Looking at the aweseome whitecaps in the surf pics begs this question...what is the shutter speed of your camera?

I think my camera goes up t0 a shutter speed of 1500. Maybe 2000. I'll have to check when I get home. I used different settings for different shots. I don't remember on that one. I'll have to look at it when I get home. It was pretty fast I'm sure. The software that comes with it has a viewing program that lists all of the settings for each shot. You can use it manually and automatic like most cameras.

I had a photography class at Memphis State but I've forgotten quite a bit. A lot of what I did with these shots was trial and error.

Here is a pretty good explanation from Wikepedia. Notice the water shots from blurry to detailed. Depends on the type of shot you are after.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_speed