Flemingoes

[Nuwan Gomis]

I spotted these felmingoes during last week and took some pictures. This was taken around 6.30 - 7.00 pm and the lighting was not that good specially since I was shooting about 40 - 60 meters away from these guys. So I decided to shoot at higher ISO and also at higher shutter speed since these guys are moving.
I need advises how to take a better picture in such kind of condition and about the colour, contrast and clarity about this one.

EXIF
ISO - 800
Shutter Speed - 1/800
Aperture - f/8
Focal Length - 250mm
Camera used - Canon 550D
Shooting mode - Manual

[Fred cruise]

I give a credit knowing the fact that how hard to be close to them (as beginners) however, as we spoke I believe we need to develop on the camera shaking and some settings ...

[sureshahm]

I agree and the subject is not crisp. Composition might have been good if the photo missed the buildings and more like pnorama.

[Linnea]

Well, I think you're off to a really good start here, but what I would work on for the next shot would be:

- Framing, we don't want to see buildings or anything man-made that decreases the feeling of wildlife.
- Focus, I don't know if you focused manually or not but nothing (except for a bit of the water) seems to be 100% in focus, so make sure to put the stabilization to 'on' on your lens (if you have that function and if you're photographing handheld) and preferably focus manually because this subject seems to be "still" enough for long enough to have time for that.

Other than that I think the exposure works really well, maybe go down to an even lower aperture number to blur out the background even more. And I think the time of day is perfect, the light is so much better early in the morning/late afternoon when it's soft and warm.

[Nuwan Gomis]

Hi
Thank you all for your input.
I have focused the birds manually and it seems to be fine in the original picture and this is after some cropping and birds seems not in focus when I did the cropping. These guys are far and I had only a EF-S 55-250mm IS canon lens and the lens seems to be not enough to get them closer. But I'm still wondering how you could well focus when there are loads of birds together like in this one with the aperture of 5.6 or 8 as the DoF will be very lower.
Thank you

[Linnea]

Indeed that could be tricky to get all of them in focus with a smaller number but it's something to experiment with, and it could add an artistic feel if for example only a few birds are in focus and some are not. But if you prefer a larger number then stick to it, of course.

And if it got out of focus after cropping, then I'm wondering if you cropped it small and then made it larger again? Because even if you crop the birds should still be in focus..

[deepstar]

100% agree.... but a good effort....

Can u take the same style of photo - but with the camera pointing another direction ... as the buildings really distract your eye.

[webcat]

Take 3 steps to the right and watch your background. You're shooting that at a great time to shoot! That light was beautiful! I'd open the Aperture a bit; maybe to f4. I shoot at a fast ISO because the camera is heavy for me and I shake. 800 is actually slow for me. Also, the farther away you shoot the more difficult it is to get it in focus.

Set your settings for the white of the birds when you're shooting white birds. Shoot several shots with a notch or two up and a notch or two down. When you get back to your computer you can see what the different settings did with that situation.

[Minicooper]

Its good picture but you are asking too much from your lense. In low light,hand held and at 250mm it is very soft - not producing sharp images. What you can try next time is to set to 200mm and crop the image later - it will give you better images. A tripod is also a good idea for photographing birds.

[Nuwan Gomis]

Thank you all for your input and advises.
I could not move as I was on a small land where it surrounded by water and this is the maximum I could go.
Im planning to shoot these guys in April where I can see them in thousands in Salt Pan....