There's a steve McCurry image in Afghanistan that this really reminds me of. Could be that I've been going through his books recently though - very great again.
I have a wonderful book called "Understanding Exposure" which gave me a great overview of what can be achieved with different apertures and different shutter speeds. On the cover is a photo of flying pigeons. Their wings are a blur as they surround a little boy. They are pure motion, pure energy. Clearly, a slower shutter speed was used. This allowed for a smaller aperture and thus plenty of depth of field. Therefore, the birds standing in front of the boy are as perfectly focused as the bird standing on his shoulder.
You, on the other hand, have frozen the birds completely. You have stolen their energy and forced us to meditate upon them, to ponder the miracle of flight. In this way, the photograph is like a prayer. And despite your relatively large aperture, plenty of these birds are in tack-sharp focus, though the buildings are in a lovely state of fuzz. I chalk that up to your skill as a photographer. It's all part of your role as Mr. Freeze. It's all part of your role as prophet.
Two great photographs. One is a photograph of a boy. Yours is a photograph of birds.
And btw, it doesn't scare me. Not at all. But I see very well that some would be afraid. People are often afraid of prophets.
8 - Very good. Criticism; not much, depending what you had to work with, perhaps not cropped so tightly at the top. Toning/b&w is good, but perhaps a little more detail in/on the birds may have given this an extra element, not sure. Maybe, especially for this Challenge, 640 height too, for added 'phobia effect', may have given this even more impact in my opinion, but again, not sure.
They either need to be attacking the camera (or something else that's visible) or grouped menacingly on a clothesline to be effective. Otherwise, what's to fear?
I love the contrast, the framing of the building, the sharpness of all the birds in motion, ect. Good editing job to take acount for the quick shutter. I bet somewill not vote as high because you simply didn't show a person reacting to the birds, but it is one of my favorite for the challenge. Nice job.
I wish there was a person in the midst of the birds with his/her hands over their head or on their ears. Would have conveyed the phobia a bit better. However, I still like the frenetic nature of the shot and gave it an 8. That's one of the top 4 shots in this challenge as far as my voting goes. Well done.
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