Thousands and Thousands of them

[Desmond Chan]

Snow geese that is.

For some reason, I always wanted to photograph a large flock of birds flying together. Finally, I got that chance last Friday. It's that time of the year again and they are here passing by !! And this is one of the shots I've taken. I don't know which one to pick - they all look similar - I guess this one will do.

D300 200-400@200, hand-held (leaned against my car with elbows on the top of it); manual exposure mode, no flash (not sure what it could do in a situation like this anyhow), ISO 200 f5.6 1/800sec.

C&C welcome !

Thank you !!

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hey Desmond, very impressive! Must have been noisy too! Despite the business you managed to get great colors and a nice exposure for this image. I do feel, howver, that you froze a bit too much of the action. If you get another chance, you could try a much longer exposure time, or even better, try to move the camera at the same speed the geese are travelling while making your exposure. I think a sense of motion will add strongly too the impressing effect the image already has.
- Jerry -

[Desmond Chan]

If you get another chance, you could try a much longer exposure time, or even better, try to move the camera at the same speed the geese are travelling while making your exposure. I think a sense of motion will add strongly too the impressing effect the image already has.
- Jerry -

Photographing them in the ways you described is in my plan, too. Have to admit it's an after-thought since that I never came across something like this before, all I could only think of was to put them on film - so to speak - first rather than doing it in various ways. Anyhow, if I come across this again, I'll definitely try something different.

Having said that though, I think shooting them at slow shutter speed will produce a different kind of image but not necessarily a better one. But then, if I do, and with enough blur, I can call them whatever bird I want and you'll never be able to tell :D

[denise ippolito]

Desmond- I think you did a good job. At first glance I saw one bird going the wrong way- I thought, how amazing, then realized several were going the wrong way- It kept my interest!

[Alfred Forns]

Got a suggestion Desmond Those birds are mostly white and you can crank up the ISO big time. the image being mostly white will have little noise.

You can set the ISO at 6400 then Max out the Aperture for do ... f 64 and still will have a good shutter speed. Images come out real nice :) For these huge flocks I look for symmetry and bird volume. Might crop a little of the bottom to eliminate the small empty space. Also zooming in wil show individual birds. Excellent !!!

[Nonda Surratt]

What a flock! That had to be something to see, very cool

[Gus Cobos]

Very nice image Desmond...agree with Mr. Forns on the techs. keep them coming...:cool:

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I'd be like you Desmond and Just hope to get some frames in. Maybe just for fun some motion blur in PS.
Did well to even get a capture this good:)

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Awesome capture Desmond. Hoping they are coming my way.
Regards,

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi D
esmond:

Fantastic shot. Something like hunting Pheasants, the first shot, all you think of is get that shot, and fire away. Next chance, you think, lead the bird, and this time it's dinner :D:D

I love the photo, and your title is great!

Well done young man.

Thanks for sharing.

Gus
BTW: Al's great tips probably came from experience with large flocks.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Well done Desmond - always amazing to see so many birds!!
Regards,
Nicki

[Desmond Chan]

Got a suggestion Desmond Those birds are mostly white and you can crank up the ISO big time. the image being mostly white will have little noise.

You can set the ISO at 6400 then Max out the Aperture for do ... f 64 and still will have a good shutter speed. Images come out real nice :) For these huge flocks I look for symmetry and bird volume. Might crop a little of the bottom to eliminate the small empty space. Also zooming in wil show individual birds. Excellent !!!

Thanks Al for the suggestion !! If another opportunity comes, I'm going to take a deep breath first, then take my time to set things up before I press the shutter button...at least I'll try to... :D

Uncle Gus, I like your Pheasants hunting example. I'll think dinner next time :)

And yes, it's an amazing experience to see so many birds flying at the same time !

Thanks everyone for the comments !

[Lance Peters]

Hi Desmond - wow - would love to see something like that - hope you get the chance to experiment with some blurs.

:)