
Recently, I was canoeing in the Gulf of Mexico and came across a large flock of white pelicans in the water. I couldn’t get close to the birds but I managed to capture some images, including the one above. Upon examining this image, I decided that I liked it for several reasons. First, the birds are adequately sharp and in focus, not an easy thing to do when shooting from a canoe. Second, the birds’ feathers are exposed perfectly. And third, the line created by the birds is straight. In other words, no editing required for sharpness, exposure and horizontal line.

Mostly, I liked the birds in contrast to their surroundings, and the simplicity of the composition. Although the image is successful for all the above reasons, I wanted to do something with it to make it unique. With some edits in Photoshop, I created the image below. Interested in how I did this? Read on!