Love the soft light and the details and shapes in the wings. The contrast really pops against the Bg.
I would like to see a lighter BG although it gives the image a different feel then the original. Took about 1 minute in PS CS5, copy the layer and changed it to Screen after I protected the whites. the only downside is I did introduce some Posterization in the 8 bit JPEG image.
Just realized that I didn't notice the bluish light in the first reply so here is another version without the blue cast in the whites and slightly lightened.
Might be a little warmer / brighter than some people would like. Just thought I would share to give everyone another version of Dave's image to see and comment on.
Great group photo. The repost looks good with the lighter background. It looks like you have enough detail in the blacks and whites, although that is hard to tell for me when the birds are that small. I enjoyed the story and good choice of aperture for the shot. And nice shot with all the birds banking at the same time. Thanks for Sharing.
Great shot, I also like the reworked image - I have learned something - I had never seen the Screen function before - one to remember!! Thanks Dave - great image thanks Robert - for the lesson:)