Quelea at waterhole

[Vincent Grafhorst]

A flock of Red-billed quelea (Quelea quelea) at a waterhole in the dry Boteti Riverbed, Makgadikgadi NP, Botswana.

Unfortunately this waterhole was in the shade of a steep (almost vertical) riverbank so I did not have much light nor quality light.

Camera Model Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/320
Av( Aperture Value ) 6.3
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 1000
Lens EF500mm f/4L IS USM
Focal Length 500.0 mm
Slight crop

Vincent Grafhorst
www.khwaiphotography.com

[Desmond Chan]

Wow, really lots and lots of birds !!

I still wonder though if this image would have a visual impact with a better DOF.

[Tony Whitehead]

You've done well with this Vincent. It's hard to know how to manage these swarms - it's just total chaos. With poor light, ISO 1000 you've got as much DOF as possible while still avoiding too much motion blur. I might remove teh little group bottom left and maybe boost the saturation on the reds a little to draw more attention to the bills. Hoping to run into some of these in the bush - found very few last year but heaps the year before.

[Juan Aragonés]

Love it Vincent. I would try to add more noise reduction.