Birdscape

[Axel Hildebrandt]

This morning I went to a lake that is a major migration spot for snow geese and tundra swans. There have been up to 80,000 snow geese and 3,600 tundra swans in recent days, don't ask me how they count them. :)

I usually don't make images like this but the sunrise was so beautiful that I couldn't resist. Later I met Bryan Erb by accident, which was a pleasant surprise. The image is full frame, I just slightly rotated the horizon.



1D3, 500f4, 1.4x, 1/320s, f/7.1, EC +0.67, ISO 1600

[Randy Stout]

Axel:

Its fun to try something out of our ordinary routine.

I like the sun coming up, the large tree on the left as balance, the color of the water and the mass of birds. Clean lower margin works for me.

I would be curious what a bit more contrast would do. Not much, just a bit to give it a bit more bite, without ruining the early morning feeling.

Randy

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thanks, Randy. I thought about increasing contrast, too, but decided against it because there was some mist. I made more images like this one and will experiment with different settings.

[Arthur Morris]

This is wonderful with the carefully balanced COMP just perfect. Plus great mood and EXP. I could hardly believe that this was your image but I really love it.

[Ilija Dukovski]

The hue, the composition, the sun,
excellent...

[Jon Thornton]

I love the soft pastel tones and the interest from front to back. Wonderful image.

[Bryan Erb]

Nice composition, and really like the colors, nicely done. Makes me wish I could have been there at dawn too...

[Tony Whitehead]

Well done, Axel. The thumbnail really caught my eye. Well seen and executed.

[Jasper Doest]

Wonderful scene and very well seen. I'm not sure about the DOF. Our eye is used to see very distant scenes like these with sharpness everywhere....so perhaps more DOF would be more pleasing. On the other hand that would make it a bit flat and now the OOF geese lead the eye into the photograph...that said, my eyes end at the sun....and don't stay with the geese...so personally I think more DOF would make it a bit more pleasing to the eye. Just my 2 cents :-) Still a lovely photograph with beautiful atmosphere!