This picture is an experiment. It is a lilac-breasted roller composited with a wide angle shot of the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. It looks unreal because birds in flight are virtually always photographed with a telephoto lens. The only way this photograph could have happened would be if I were composing the landscape with a wide angle lens and the bird, miraculously, flew past me just 3 or 4 feet from the lens . . . AND I was using a very fast shutter plus a very small aperture like f/32. We all know that would never happen. Still, the juxtaposition of the two images is interesting in that we can see the beautiful environment in which these colorful birds live and everything is sharp. My settings for the shot of the roller were 1/3200, f/11, and 1250 ISO. If you think this picture doesn't work because it looks unreal, consider that, as photographers, our reality has been defined by the artificial, manmade construct of photographic optics, not what we see with our eyes.
3 Comments
Dec 31, 2020, 6:05:29 AM
Rajan Parrikar - Magnificent, and believable. Is there a reason you have left the horizon line slightly tilted?
Dec 29, 2020, 11:02:16 PM
Bob Vestal - Jim, I totally agree with Skip below. Lovely image to be appreciated without technical considerations--apart from understanding how the composite was made. The lilac-breasted roller is truly beautiful creature.
Dec 29, 2020, 1:10:42 PM
Skip Kask - Jim: When I look at and image I don't think about the technical issues I just decide if I like it or not. The more "WOW" the better it is. I have to say in my opinion this is one of the best images I have seen of yours. Skip