Wide Mouth Pelican

[Granpix12]

I was taking pictures of the pelican's at a nearby lake when one of them opened his mouth widely.
The picture is ok, but could you please give me some comments to make it better. This is more of a composition question, but any other comments would also be helpful.
The picture is attached.




Thanks!
Theresa

[Shadowman]

Now that could qualify as an abstract, hardly recognizable as a pelican. Nicely done.

[Granpix12]

Thank you! Do you think that there is any way I could have improved it?

[Shadowman]

Thank you! Do you think that there is any way I could have improved it?

Only way would be to crop out the recognizable birds in the background.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi again Theresa,

Do you think that there is any way I could have improved it?

Ideally, not have the birds in the background, but of course, you may not have been able to wait until they paddled away, or the subject would have shut its mouth.

So that leaves cropping and cloning as options to improve the composition.
I say both because cropping alone, for good placement of the subject still leaves bits of the others visible.
Conversely, if you crop tight to exclude all other birds, I think the composition would feel a bit 'hemmed in'.

Hope that helps, Dave

[Granpix12]

Thank you, Dave.

[FootLoose]

The subject reminds me of a plant, and I think if you had included a bit more of the bird's neck it would add to that impression.

[IzzieK]

How about a crop like this -- you still retain the wide open mouth and the referenced pelican at the background. If you had included a bit more neck area as Greg suggested, you won't need that pelican at the back...no matter how blurred it is...but what do I know...? I am not much of a bird shooter really...

[Wavelength]

Do you have a vertical shot with more of the bird?