Geese Escape to the South

[Don Schaeffer]

the first burst of Winter just behind them

[Overbeyond]

There is some unwelcome evidence of processing here (especially around the first group of geese) but I can easily overlook this because it is oozing with foreboding atmosphere. The sight of the powerline and the faint buildings play a huge part in this.
The movement of the geese is almost palpable, there is a terrific sense of aftermath and they know what is happening.

[Frog]

Very moody......I like it. Don't know enough about post processing to comment.

[OldSchool]

Hey Don,

Great capture. And, it works very nicely in black & white.

Aside from the PP and down-sizing issues, for me, the composition would be a little stronger if you cropped off some of the area to the right of the flock.

Cheers,
Tim

[SmartWombat]

Perhaps overprocessed, certainly full of jpeg artefacts.
The full resolution original may well be much better.

It's got the atmosphere definitely.

[MB1]

Don, you have posted some really interesting images lately with really strong digital artifacts (that actually add to the mood of the images). Are you doing this on purpose or is it just a side effect of your processing? Tell all.......

Whatever it is I really think this image works. It sort of looks like the birds are on the near side of a screen door and everything else is on the far side. Very moody and atmospheric, a great composition and a perfect use of B&W.

[Greg McCary]

I agree it creats a great mood. I like the grainy film look to it but I see artifacts around the birds that really hurt the shot. I am about 50-50 with cloning the power lines. I have got artifacts like that when I have pushed a curves adjustment to far.

[Don Schaeffer]

Thanks guys. To be honest the birds are merged in from another shot.