I find it tough getting a good image of these red-necked phalaropes in flight... this group probably had few thousand birds flying low over water twisting and turning frequently. I kept my focus on a segment of the flock and panned with it to get this image. Used 1/2000 sec @f6.3 and ISO 400. For processing applied fractalius and changed opacity of the layer. Then used a mask to selectively open up eyes and wings. Hope you like it...
Very nice application and love the blue water. The slight panning does give a sense of motion. I always wish we could get lucky with these and have complete separation of the birds but only luck would get us that. TFS
Thanks Nick. With such a large flock, chances of getting a separation is always low... but I guess we will keep trying and you are right - may get lucky one day!
Hi Indranil, this is one of the nicest group flight images that I've seen posted in awhile. The birds are pleasingly soft yet show detail with the water adding a nice backdrop that accentuated the birds. If this were mine I would evict the rear bird in the front and the rear bird in the pair behind them. Good job!
Hi, This is what I had in mind. The oof bird didn't bother me very much but the 2 birds with body merges did. I don't mind the wing merge on the rt. I took out the 2 and added a small bit to the front since the bird was very close.
If you have room I might add a small bit to the rear also. Finally I added a mild levels adj just to give a bit more separation. All in all not an easy image but you did a good job!
Please excuse the hasty PS work...
Indranil, this has been an interesting post to follow. I'm not a bird photographer - yet! - and I've followed the conversation between you and Dave, in particular with interest. I do think Dave's repost is a strong image..I might add a little bit more to the RHS, creating some separation between the trailing phalarope...looking forward to learning more.
Nice group of birds over beautiful water. I like Dave's removal of a couple of birds. I'd like to see the birds stand out a bit more from the water. Lovely light and reflections of the birds in the water.