Experimental

[Glenn Pure]

I thought I'd try something experimental here. The shot was taken in very poor light after sundown and is badly under-exposed. After lifting the exposure in PP by around 2 stops, it became very noisy - I had to apply two rounds of NR to clean it up. Just as well I wasn't after a 'detail' shot. I liked the look of the light coming through the outstretched wings. I'm sure there will be mixed opinions about this. Nevertheless, I'd value your views and particularly what you might have done differently in the circumstances to make a shot here - for example experiment with even lower SS to increase the blur?

Birds pictured are Red-billed Quelea coming in to roost and taken at Naumutoni in Etosha National Park, Namibia. There must have been thousands of birds at this roost site right next to the lodge waterhole.

Technical: Canon 80D with EF 100-400 MkII at 400mm handheld. Manual exposure 1/320 sec, f7.1, ISO 1250. Processed in Canon DPP 4 (digital lens optimiser @ 50, sharpness = 3, crop, lighting adjustments, default NR) then exported 16 bit TIFF to Photoshop Elements with Neat Image NR plugin. Sharpened in PSE (Sharpness tool) after final size reduction simply to restore the level of detail in the original size image - not attempting to create sharp outlines here.

[dankearl]

You probably could not print it, but as a website post, it looks superb to me. I like the light and color.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Glenn - I saw these in Etosha too and they are fast and small. I also think this works as a sort of abstract/experimental shot at least at this size. Nice light and I like the pinkish tones.

TFS and keep experimenting,
Rachel

[William Dickson]

I like it Glenn, and well done for posting. I have a few experimental shots as well, but don't have the confidence to post. I like the colours and motion within the image. I think this would look great as a large canvas. Maybe a little more blur, buts that a matter of taste.

Will

[Mike Poole]

This will probably divide opinion, but unfortunately I'd be on the 'not for me' side - but then again I'm not a particularly arty person!

It does have some nice points with the colours and the light coming through the wings, and I always appreciate it when people try something new and different.

Mike

[gail bisson]

I like it.
Always nice to see something different.
I like the muted browns and pinks and really like the striated "fans" created by the wings,
Gail

[Glenn Pure]

Thank you all for having a look at this one and your various views. I find it very helpful to get your viewpoints both positive and negative. Being too close to the images myself, I sometimes struggle to judge.