Flight (76/365)

Tried pushing the iPhone (and my skills) to the limit on this one.

Birds in flight are tough enough, but with an iPhone, you’re mostly just hoping for the best. I fired off a lot of frames in RAW, knowing the sensor would meter for the bright sky and leave the bird in shadow. Shooting RAW at least gives you a chance to recover shadows and highlights.

Zooming in tight was basically impossible, so I shot wide and planned to crop later. This isn’t a bad result, all things considered. It’s heavily cropped, and I used maximum shadow recovery to pull out detail in the pelican, which gives it a slightly “crispy” look—pretty much the classic sign of heavy shadow recovery.

Still, for a bird‑in‑flight shot on an iPhone, I’m pleasantly surprised.