wall to wall birds

[John Chardine]

The Semipalmated Sandpipers put on quite a show for us this afternoon at high tide, Johnson's Mills, New Brunswick. They were being chased by two Peregrine Falcons and a Merlin and would not settle.

I have to admit that the 1/500s was a mistake but it gives the image a slight blur and perhaps a sense of motion.

Full frame, sharpened.

Canon EOS 50D, 500/4 x 1.4 tc = 700mm
capture date: Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 5:27 PM
exposure program: Aperture Priority
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/500
aperture: f7.1
exposure bias: +1.0
metering: Pattern
flash: OFF

[Ray Rozema]

Unfotunately all I can say is wow.

[Alan Murphy]

John, what a great opportunity. Maybe some more sharpening might compensate for the blur.

[Harshad Barve]

lovely image , agreed with Alan here
TFS

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Very nice image Sir. It does convey the crazy fleeing movement (perhaps fleeing?). Why not try Alan's suggestion and see what difference it makes. If I witnessed something like this, I'd probably die from awe and happiness for having witnessed it. :) Thanks for sharing.

[Grace Scalzo]

Fantastic, John, I've always dreamed of seeing this, creating an image like this .... maybe someday!!

[Arno Ellmer]

This is awesome John! The motion blur is perfect as it depicts perfectly the confusion and restlessnes in the flock.

[denise ippolito]

John, I think it's a very nice image w/beautiful soft colors and I love the artistic appeal it has. Lucky you to get to see such an incredible sight!!

[Dave Barnes]

This is a superb sighting, must have been exhilarating.:cool: Pity about the SS, but another take on the image would be to give the image a touch more blur and see what it looks like.:)

[Subharghya]

This is Perfect for me even the shutter speed .. I wish there was one single bird which looks different that the rest so that the image becomes even stronger ... Beautiful Natural Pattern is created here .. Gr8 Capture

[Kiran Poonacha]

Wow.. such a beautiful sight captured.. I do feel the 1/500 worked well here giving it a nice merge feel to the OOF birds. a little more increase in the blacks should give more depth.. congrats..

[Fabs Forns]

Terrific job of capturing the wall of birds, very intense and attractive image, John.

[John Chardine]

Thanks to all. I always appreciate the comments and learn every single time! I try a bit stronger sharpening just to see how much this will compensate the blur.