I tend to be an early morning person, so the last time I was at Bosque del Apache I decided to play with intentional blurs until the light was good enough to try freezing motion. I just went back through some images I took on my first morning and I rather liked this one.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Anything. I did clone over the edge of a more prominent bird partially intruding on the left edge and a couple of small, but overly bright ones on the far right.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Anything. I’m particularly interested in whether people are willing to put up with the main characters being substantially blurred.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 150 mm, f/8, 1/6 sec, iso 2000, aperture priority, -1/3 EV. Processed in LR @ PS CC. See above for cloning. Cropped from the left and top to 5130x3384. About 1/4 stop increase in brightness in LR. There was plenty of room on the histogram to increase brightness further, but I wanted to retain the pre-dawn feel.
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I like this, Dennis, because it’s not just a massive flock. The spacing and bolder placement of just a few individuals gives this some layers and contours you wouldn’t get with a frame full of geese.
Max
This image really conveys the feeling of flight. Having the to pairs of birds larger and more prominent in the lower left quadrant anchors the photo. Very nicely done.
Oh, I love all the blurred birds - we can tell what they are and that they are in flight, so the blurriness is perfect. We know right away this is not a documentary photo. It’s more about the mood.
As far as the framing, I would be tempted to make it a 4:5 landscape ratio by cropping off the right side. I think that would be more visually balanced. Very cool at any rate!
Boy, Dennis, this is so beautiful. You know how much I love the effect of blur on birds in flight. I’m especially captivated by the upper third of the image with the super abstract wing shapes. That could almost be a unique image in itself. The depth and layers of the entire image results in a lot of interest througout. Early morning Bosque is so special…this really captures the spirit of that special place and special time!
Dennis, this does a fine job of putting the viewer there as a massive flock of birds takes off, with all of the wing noise and calling.
Yeah! Good one. Nice distribution. Superb shape differential. I like the two predominant colors.
