Hi Roger,
Looking at birds in flight is always a beautiful thing, but trying to capture them in photographs can be a lot more challenging. Unless you are photographing small birds at our level then chances are you will always be looking up at the sky. If you have an interesting sky to work with then you can get a good photograph, but if the sky is a boring blue then the photo can get boring very quickly.
These pelicans might have looked graceful as they flew past you but as a photograph I think they look rather mundane. If you are keen on photographing pelicans then my advice would be to go somewhere where they congregate; you will get good photographs in the morning and evening as they take off and land.
As another option though, I would give thought to combining this photograph with another photograph… possibly a landscape. Find a landscape photograph that you like and then copy and paste the pelican image on top. Then use blending options in Photoshop to eliminate the blue sky and reveal the birds against the landscape.
In the example below I have combined your photo with a landscape photo of the Kiakoura Ranges on the east coast of New Zealand… it is a bit rough but it shows the potential.
Cheers,
Anthony
Image Doctor's edited version
