Long-billed Dowitcher flock

Long-billed Dowitcher flock shot at my new favorite spot in the Yolo Basin Wildlife Area, Yolo co. CA (when the delta breeze is blowing!). Shot with a shoulder stock mounted Nikon D200, 80-400mmVR at 400, 1/2000th, f8, ISO 400, manual exp mode, spot meter mode, multi sensor AF mode, fill flash HSS -2.0 with not much effect!.This shot was made from a spot where the birds want to fly from one flooded field to another for some reason (food?) and into the wind, which slows them down a bit for me. I wish that the BG was OOF but I am shooting this lens at f8 for better sharpness as it doesn't have a very good reputation for being very sharp wide open. I will be experimenting with this however. PP in CS3, cropped to pano with canvas added.

Dan Brown

I like the included habitat and composition. It needs a bit CCW rotation and I wish there were no overlap between the birds and might desaturate the greens a few points.

I think you did well to get all the birds in focus, which is not too easy with a flock that moves quite quickly. I'm glad to see this image, for it might be helpful to me (and others) if other members comment on it and possibly point out solutions. To me at least, the image shows far too much contrast, and definitely is over-saturated. In any case I have seen this problem in quite a few of my own images (before post-processing) and would like to find a solution to it. In my own similar images reducing the contrast tends to make the image appear muddy. regards~onlybill

A good job of focusing but too many flat wing positions and too much BKGR detail for me. Why go by what you hear about a lens??? If I did that I would have to throw all my lenses not to mention camera bodies away... And yes to too contrasty.

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Originally Posted by WIlliam Maroldo

I think you did well to get all the birds in focus, which is not too easy with a flock that moves quite quickly. I'm glad to see this image, for it might be helpful to me (and others) if other members comment on it and possibly point out solutions. To me at least, the image shows far too much contrast, and definitely is over-saturated. In any case I have seen this problem in quite a few of my own images (before post-processing) and would like to find a solution to it. In my own similar images reducing the contrast tends to make the image appear muddy. regards~onlybill

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William, If you post an image to show us what you are talking about perhaps we could help.

Thanks for the tips. Here is an attempt to reduce contrast and saturation. Dan

Here's another shot of the flock with better wings, IMO. I paid attention to the contrast and saturation here also. Dan

Yes better, but still lots of merges and a few birds tilted away from you. Pulling off a great shorebird flock flight image is a huge challenge.