I live at the beach and try to get in as many sunrises and sunsets as my schedule will allow and this morning was no exception. I watched these four ducks and got several shots of them - on the ground and in various stages of flight. I didn't take this with the intention of submitting it, but once I got home and downloaded the image, I decided it would be a great fit to this challenge. I did almost no editing - only straightened the horizon.
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Focus and depth of field are done well. I think I have to agree with some of the other comments, that a different crop would have helped some. There is so much dark beach, and dark sky, that the impact of of the great capture of the birds in flight, is muted. With the sun so hight above the horizon, you wound up having to make everything else dark to keep the sun and it's reflection in check. With this crop, the result is a picture that appears somewhat dim. Had you cropped out the featurless dark areas of the sky, and and perhaps almost all or all of the beach, the birds would have been more of a stand out feature. Another tactic could have been to wait until sunset or just after when the sky is still well lit. Unfortuately, birds don't fly on cue.
Overall I enjoyed this pciture, and congratualtions on capturing a really interesting flight image.
Thanks to all that took the time to vote and to comment. I appreciate all of the nice compliments and welcome any constructive advice that you would be willing to express!
This was a shot of 4 different birds - they just happened to be in 4 different stages of flight when I took this shot. Good timing and no editing at all.
This photo feels flat to me in terms of colour.
Also, I think it may have benefitted from a tighter crop focusing solely on the two middle birds, with less sand and less sky.
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