RWBs take-off high-key composite.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Here's something rather different from me.

Wave after wave of Red-winged Blackbirds flew overhead, and everytime about 15-20 birds would perch on this tree for a minute before taking off again. I took a few frames, but every one of them had a few distracting merges or badly placed individuals. For this final image I cloned out some "offending" individuals, and I cloned in some others from the other frames.

I'm still not sure if it works for me (although it is growing on me), but I sure had fun playing around with it!

Canon 40D + 100-400L @400mm, aperture priority, evaluative metering, 1/500s., f/8, ISO 800, +1.3 EC, full frame.

[Paul Lagasi]

Wait a sec..is this Dan in OOTB...;), this is a pleasing high key blur...really like how just about every bird has its red showing...creating something is always fun...TFS

Re-edit..Oh course I forgot...Welcome to OOTB, Eh!

[denise ippolito]

Daniel, Nice to see you in OOTB. Welcome. I like the white BG with the RWB's. Nice composite and I'm glad you had a good time creating it. I wish that there was just a tiny bit more of the tree on the bottom but it is still an interesting comp.:)

[Cheryl Slechta]

Dan, this is a nice high key image. I especially like the reds showing on almost all of the wings. It reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" (now that really dates me:))

[Indranil Sircar]

Excellent composition, Daniel. I have been trying to get these RWBs together in flight without much success. I love the hk look and would echo Cheryl how those reds show on most of the birds. TFS.

[Steve Adkins]

Welcome to OOTB, Daniel. Great high key and the reds are awesome! Good job with the cloning and consistent flight direction. Looks like winter's coming! :)

[James Shadle]

Works for me!
I love the placement of the "snag" lower right, with the RWBB taking off into the negative space.
While this is high key, you still see details in the birds.

However, I was crushed when I read you "cloned" in and out:p.

[Anita Bower]

I like this one a lot! It looked compositionally interesting in the thumbnail, and I was delighted to see the large image. Great job!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey thanks everyone:cool: It is because of all the red epaulettes showing that I gave this a second thought...glad I did!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hey Daniel,

Love this shot! I think all the red epaulettes give it the splashes of color that make it work really well.