Starlings

[Rosl Roessner]

I was out to make images of starlings, who came into the reed for resting over night.
It was one evening with really bright sun and I tried to create an image with the starlings in front of the sun set, with the sun shining through the feathers of the wings.
I went there and had "my" image in my brain. This is the one that comes next to my imagination, but I whish I had changed to f 5.6 or 8 to have a slightly wider depth of field.
What do you think?
What could I do to improve that kind of image?

Mark III / Canon 500 f 4
1/1250 sec / f 4 / ISO 1250

Hoping for your comments and critique,
thanks a lot!
Rosl

[Daniel Cadieux]

Interesting. I like the chaotic feel to this, and it does have a late day look to it (which I like). Notice how the birds at on the left half look dark and more contrasty...I would play with the birds on the right half to match that look. I would probably also crop halfway between the highest bird and the top of the frame.

[Anita Rakestraw]

I like your idea here, Rosl, and love that late-day golden cast! I'm sure no expert on how to do images like this, but wondered how it would have looked from a lower angle....? I like Daniel's suggestions, and took the liberty of playing with this a bit myself, hope you don't mind. I added contrast, cloned out the oof birds near the mid-bottom, and cropped. Don't know if it's any better; what do you think?

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I would have tried f8 aperture. May be a slight hint of flash would have helped. Thanks for sharing.

[Markus Jais]

I think f8 would have improved the image a little, but I like it as it is. wonderful light and warm colors.

Markus

[Rosl Roessner]

Thank you for working with my picture! Thanks Anita! You did a great job! I was thinking about cloning the oof birds out. But I was afraid that it would be too obvious.
You show here, that it works quite well!