Great Egret looking straight at the lens in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/1000thBirds are often seen photographed in profile view where their long beaks compliment their vertical necks.  This is especially so for the great egret who has a very long and slender white neck.  However, when photographed from straight on, such birds lose their elegant appearance and take on a more awkward, comical look as seen above.  I had the chance to get very close to this great egret right at the same eye level as well out on The Pier in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida.

Eye-to-eye with a great egret at The Pier in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/1000thEven just a little bit less straight on is much more of a flattering look for this great egret!

• Purchase these images as fine art prints or for commercial license stock usage
• View more nature & wildlife photo stories
• Take a 1-on-1 photography lesson with Jason to learn how to make images like this

A black skimmer bird in St. Petersburg, Florida nature photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/800thThis black skimmer was enjoying the late afternoon sunshine on a small beach in the North Shore Park area of St. Petersburg, Florida.  I had to get down on the sand to get to the bird's eye level for this composition.  These birds get their name from skimming their beaks over the surface of the water in search of food.  Unfortunately, this bird and all her friends must have already eaten dinner because they were just standing around and I could not get any cool action shots of them skimming.  Such is the nature of nature photography!

• Purchase this image as fine art print or for commercial license stock usage
• View more nature & wildlife photo stories
• Take a 1-on-1 photography lesson with Jason to learn how to make images like this

Brown Pelican looking very colorful in profile St. Petersburg Florida fine art photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/4 ISO 200 1/4000thSome more examples of one of my favorite subjects to photograph in St. Petersburg, Florida -- brown pelicans.  The males, like the one featured here, are actually rather colorful in their plummage.  I thought the line of buoys in the background matched the colors around the bird's beak and eyes.  

Brown Pelican looking eye-to-eye in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/4 ISO 200 1/4000thPhotographing a pelican straight on always produces a weird looking shot.  It kind of makes me uncomfortable even now looking at the pelican in the eye!

• Purchase these images as fine art prints or for commercial license stock usage
• View more nature & wildlife photo stories
• Take a 1-on-1 photography lesson with Jason to learn how to make images like this

Brown Pelican photographed in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/800th white background enhanced in Photoshop

• Inquire about fine art prints and commercial license usage for these pelican photographs

Living in St. Petersburg there is ample opportunity to photograph brown pelicans about as close up as you dare.  For the most part, the pelicans themselves are not that bothered about a long lens being pointed at them and seem to tolerate it, though I would not go so far as to say they like it.  I wanted to make some fine art pelican images with white backgrounds by purposefully over exposing the shots when I made them in the field, or in this case the St. Petersburg Pier.  I cleaned up the white backgrounds digitally in Photoshop as needed.

Brown Pelican awash in daylight - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/400thShooting in bright light makes it easy to overexpose the images on purpose by using a large aperture along with a relatively slow shutter speed and shooting into the sun.  

Closeup of a brown pelican - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/1250thSince I was shooting at a focal length of 200mm with a brown pelican standing right next to me, I saw it as an opportunity to photograph details of a pelican, rather than the entire bird, as seen in the above shot focused on the pelican's eye and upper beak texture.  

• Purchase these images as fine art prints or for commercial license stock usage
• View more fine art photo stories
• Take a 1-on-1 photography lesson with Jason to learn how to make images like this

Brown Pelican (male) at The Pier in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/800th shutter priorityBrown Pelicans are very curious birds to me.  Here in St. Petersburg Florida you can get up very close to them, basically stand right next to them at some places.  As they are a large bird it feels pretty cool to be able to get so close to a large wild animal.  Plus, they always look like they are looking back at you thinking something (probably do you have any snacks?).  

The male brown pelican above caught my eye because I had never seen a pelican hold out just one wing to dry before like he was doing.  It seemed an odd thing to do when presumably trying to balance on top of a tall piling as he was.  

• View more bird photography
• Inquire about buying fine art prints of this brown pelican photograph
• Learn how to make photos like these with a 1-on-1 photo lesson with Jason