Along the coast of South Carolina are a string of barrier islands. Some are fairly large, others almost sand bars, and a few nestled so close it’s hard to tell they are actually islands.
Each spring and summer on the deserted ones shore birds nest. Below we drifted in the surf with the high tide to watch the Pelicans. There’s no better way to photograph these amazing birds, you get right down low at their level.
Shore Birds – Brown Pelicans
Specs; OM-1 mk2, OM100-400. Finished in ON1, DxO Filmpack.
A few random shots that were taken at a Charleston shrimp boat pier. These were all taken around the time I was first moving to OM Systems gear.
I have gone into files looking for unpublished images that I can use as a test / practice while learning the ON1 Photo RAW editor. I still think Lightroom is the gold standard, but the speed and stability of ON1 can’t be ignored.
First here is a typical scene. One of the locals, an Egret, boarding shrimp boat looking to steal a snack.
Around The Shrimp Pier
Brown Pelicans follow the boats back to the piers. As the shrimp catch is sorted out plenty of scraps are pushed overboard. I specifically wanted a shot like this to see how the masking worked when selecting the ‘back ground’ function. Glare on the water is always problem. The result was OK.
Around The Shrimp Pier
Last was a white bird against the sky. A ‘subject’ mask. Actually that was better than expected. This was a mediocre shot that should have been deleted. ON1 easily found the bird, the normal sliders worked just fine.
Around The Shrimp Pier
None of the images above had anything difficult done to them. That was the point. These are shots I would take on any given day. ON1 did what was needed, quickly, and easily once you knew your way around the program a little. Editing software is never simple 😆.
Too many swamp shots lately, I needed to mix it up a bit. The most opposite environment to photograph here is the shore, and everyone’s favorite the Pelicans.
This series also seemed like a good place to work in a new editor for image processing. For probably close to two years I have tried various different software to use as a backup to the usual Adobe Lightroom industry standard.
This series was done using ON1 and Topaz. As an editor ON1 has the ability to work with just about any RAW format as well as any other image file format. That’s a requirement for me. I like to use other systems as plugins. Lightroom always has interfaced with most other systems, ON1 does too. Most RAW editors don’t. Theres a reason Adobe owns the market. I love Lightroom, I just get frustrated with how sluggish it gets. ON1 is certainly not slow.
Working The Pelicans
Nerd stuff aside; Brown Pelicans breed on the small barrier islands off the coast of the Lowcountry. They are one of the smaller Pelicans, but also one of only two that catch fish by diving from above.
Working The PelicansWorking The Pelicans
Brown Pelicans off the Stono River inlet, South Carolina.
My camera was in the backseat of the car, we pulled over to grab our ‘stuff’ by a wetlands of the Ashepoo Plantation. This an open spot with marsh, a creek, and pond.
The marsh runs on both sides of the road so it’s good to take a look around, there’s all types of critters here.
Below are quick and long shots taken right as I grabbed my camera.
Lately most everything published has been around the marshes. This happens every year. Spring/Summer is the swamps, Fall/Winter are the marshes. And since we do live on the coast, shore and ocean is scattered all around.
I felt we needed some ocean photographs and in the ‘to do’ there is always a Pelican or two.
First is a shot taken on the shore of a small barrier island. The big marshes we photograph are not all that far from here. The rivers in the ACE Basin all empty into the Atlantic right near these small islands.
Besides the Brown Pelicans there are two Laughing Gulls. I think they are the most common Gull we have.
Coastal Brown Pelicans
Below a single Pelican flying low over the water. The Pelicans take advantage of the thermals over the waters surface and use them to glide for long distances.
On the docks by the shrimpers looking for an interesting shot, and this Pelican came by low and fast. His flight was hidden by the big boats until almost even with me.
Brown Pelican Flight
The water is a hard contrast so I’ll take the shot as a win 😝.
