Taken January 4 2009
Camera: Nikon D300
Exposure: 0.067 sec (1/15)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 65 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV
It wasn't easy to decide, but I chose this one even though it does have some technical flaws.
I consider this my best shot because it wasn't "luck", it wasn't created in post, and it wasn't "easy" to capture.
There was this large flock of crows migrating or something and every time I saw them it gave me this "Hitchcock" feeling, that's what I wanted to capture. I spent several evenings over a couple weeks time trying to capture them and I finally caught them perched next to an abandoned funeral home (how perfect!).
To get the image I set the ISO very high because I wanted the grain. I set the WB to something for blue lights (fluorescents I think) to give the warm color, and I underexposed slightly because it wasn't actually that dark. It was all about creating the mood. What you see is almost straight out of camera.
I did do some minor color adjustment as well as boost the grain some, minor cropping and added the vignette.