Griffon Vultures

[Kalin Botev]

Hi everyone,
I hope this bunch of guys qualifies for the theme.
The image was taken early in the morning and this is my first sighting of so many griffon vultures perched together.
Equipment:
Nikon D3, Nikon 300 mm f/2.8 + 1.7 TC.
Shot at f/5, 1/640s, ISO 1100
PP – levels, local color adjustments, and cropped out parts of two other birds on the left and a boulder in the foreground.
Thanks for your comments and advices,
Kalin

[Daniel Cadieux]

Well, they are backlit so it qualifies! I love that grouping of vultures, and they all offered you some good head angles (or you waited for the right time to press the shutter). That light is appealing. I also like the grey BG, and there is just enough texture to add interest to it. I wish you had more canvas below as a couple of the vultures feet are clipped, but I realize you likely wanted to minimize some FG elements below the frame. As posted cropping from above for a more pano image would work well IMO. You could burn the soft white area creeping in at bottom right. I do realize you were probably in a hide of some sorts, but I do wish you were about two feet more to your left.

Still good stuff though, and all the rocks are perfectly placed too :-)

[John Robinson]

I like this. Pity about the bird far middle left. Tempting an erasure ?
Maybe a slice off the top. A different sort of image which is pleasing.
Cheers
JohnR

[Kalin Botev]

Thanks for the tips and comments Daniel and John.
I’ll give it a try with less space on top. I haven’t thought about this.
I cropped the bottom because there were some out of focus rocks which were distracting. Yes, I was in a hide and unfortunately could not move to the left. These birds get easily scared so one should move as little as possible.
Thanks again,
Kalin

[Marina Scarr]

Very strong image and just love the light. Would have liked to see more room on the bottom.