Though they are ground-dwelling birds, helmeted guinea fowls (Numida meleagris) sleep in trees. Before sunrise these poor flyers awake and fly to the ground. In this case I am afraid I woke them up a bit before their alarm clock went off.
Okay this is a composite image of two frames. The birds sitting on the tree are the same individuals as in the air. When I reviewed the image sequence made I realised it would have been so much nicer with both birds in the tree and in the sky.
Image made in Botsalano GR, South Africa.
Camera Model Canon EOS 40D
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/60
Av( Aperture Value ) 4.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation -2/3
ISO Speed 800
Lens EF500mm f/4L IS USM
Focal Length 500.0 mm
Image Size 3888x2592
Image Quality RAW
Flash Off
White Balance Mode Color Temperature(5200K)
AF Mode One-Shot AF
Handheld
Great composition Vincent, I do not mind if this one is made from two images because you give that information:). From an aesthetical point of view this composition have a lot of impact and I love it (I am a bird painter ;))
The effect of wing movement against that beautiful sky makes for very interesting blurs, very cool! Only improvements on this very artisitc image would be to clone out the OOF stuff at the very bottom edge of the LC, and add a bit of canvas at top.