incoming wavy pair

[Bob Smith]

This shot was taken from the road near Brunswick foreshore here in Ladner, B.C. in March of this year. I haven't seen or heard any fall migrators yet but they s/b arriving in numbers any day now and I heard we will have yet another record flock. 5DIII, Sigma 150-600mm f/5.6-6.3 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro,ISO 400, f/7.1, 1/1600

[Mike Poole]

I like the attempt to get the 2 birds in flight together and its good you got them on similar focal planes. For me at least though, the fact they have both gone past the camera lets the shot down. From that vantage point if the were giving similar poses but facing the other way, so flying towards us, the shot would be more pleasing.

I do like the way you've been able to shoot at around head height, much nicer than pointing the lens upwards.

Mike

[William Dickson]

Hi Bob. I dont think the birds in the BG help the image as they are too much OOF. You got good detail on both birds, and I can imagine like Mike said, that if they were flying towards us, how much better this image would be. I like the POV.

Will

[Bob Smith]

Thanks for your comments Mike and William. Framing these birds in pairs is something I'm always looking for in flock situations like this one was. First you have to get separation from the other airborne birds, then you look for their composition relative to each other. The wing position pretty much depends on what you find as you search through a burst series. I agree that the BG birds in the OP are a bit too much---it w/h been nice if the clump of birds between the two flight birds was just the single with the orange head. As to position being somewhat "past" the camera my thinking in presenting this image was that the righthand bird gave gave a nice view of the front while the lefthand bird gave a nice view of the wind whiffling of the feathers on the back of the wing. Also I think it w/h been nice if that lefthand bird hadn't been veering somewhat to the left. Here's the preceding image---I didn't choose it first because the righthand bird is slightly OOF but maybe the composition makes up for that? Or maybe just get out this afternoon and shoot some more. The migration started arriving the night of my OP and there must be 10,000 birds here now with 1000's more arriving daily over the next few weeks.


Mike[/QUOTE]