Formation Flying

[Ian Cassell]

I know, I know ... too many birds. Anyway, I liked it and these American Avocets were all parallel to the sensor ...

Canon 7D
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L
1/1250 sec f/7.1 ISO 400 HH

Crop for composition and sharpening in CS6
NR on BG in Noiseware 5 (could probably use another pass ... )

[Clyde Hopper]

Hi Ian , I like it too . The formation of the birds make a nice triangle ,as well as the top bird's wing . I hear it is a good thing to have geometric shapes ,that form in the photograph . I do loose the impact of the birds though ,due to the tonality of the back ground . All in All I like it and just wish it could have had a darker and cleaner Bg.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Clyde. Yes, it was a rather gray day which, I think, degraded the appearance of the water in the BG.

[Clyde Hopper]

Thanks, Clyde. Yes, it was a rather gray day which, I think, degraded the appearance of the water in the BG.

Would it be wrong ,in any way to Darken the Bg. ?? Kind -of ,like if you used fill -flash ?

[Ian Cassell]

Hmmm, I could try that. It might muddy up the look of the background vegetation. I'm at work without PS, so it will need to wait. Thanks for the idea.

[Karen Forderer]

I like it. It is kind of neat that all four birds have their wings at different levels.

Karen

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi ian, I like the formation and most of all the matching curves of the bills. I agree that the bg detracts here, as the water is a bit bright and the vegetation at the top of the frame really pulls the eye. Good job on the capture, nice BIF technique. If you have the bg isolated on a layer I would suggest doing a ridiculous amount of NR to help keep the eye on the birds.

[Bob Miller]

Ian.....nice capture with no mergers...not always easy to do. I agree the bg needs work

[Randall Farhy]

Ian, fantastic capture- The shape of the formation resembles the outline of a dolphin breaching. I think it works well. No mergers as already mentioned- not easy, and if I'm not mistaken-these guys are wicked fast in flight, similar to yellow legs and other small shorebirds?. Wish it were in my collection.