Flamingo Touchdown

[Morkel Erasmus]

Recently I was able to photograph a flock of Greater Flamingos who have settled at a pond on a farm not too far from my house. I hope you like this shot of one of the birds coming in for a landing. I was lying flat in the mud next to the water to get a pleasing perspective and angle on the birds.


Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
1.4x teleconverter
f7.1 | 1/1600 SS | ISO-2000

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Really nice Morkel!
The thing that would've made it even better is if the bird was to land in between the feeding birds.
But as is, it is still super nice IMO. Love the three spaced out birds across the frame too.
Well done mate, TFS

[gail bisson]

My first thought when I viewed this was " I wish that middle flamingo in the BG wasn't there". I think I just wish the foot did not intersect with the flamingo.
The landing pose is terrific. Just wish we could see more of the eye.
I could also see a version with the reflections removed with a crop from the bottom.
Gail

[Daniel Cadieux]

I agree with the merge, but I am really digging the feel of the image. Super good incoming pose, and although the grounded birds are angled away I still like them. Spending time lying in the mud is really worth it...and fun eh!

[Grace Scalzo]

I like it much! We've made these rules about merges and stuff like that, but nature just isn't always obliging and this feels true. The image has an intimate feel, accomplished by your low angle. The only thing that bugs my eye a bit is that strip of dark wing reflected at the bottom but I see if you trimmed to above that, then you'd cut the reflection of the other bird.

[dankearl]

The merge is trivial, the IQ is excellent.......

[William Dickson]

Fantastic looking image. the colours are superb.

Will

[Shawn Zierman]

Beautiful scene!! The light quality and technical aspects of the image are classy. With all the elements/subjects that you had to deal with here, this turned out really well. I like Dan's summary of the image in pane#6!