Murmuration

[Kaye Leggett]

A day out last week took me down to The Somerset Levels with the hope of viewing the nightly starling spectacle. We stood and watched for over an hour as 100,000's starlings came back to roost about 2kms away, The photographic conditions were tricky; I have processed with a painterly feel which I hope gives an idea of the movement of the birds

[IzzieK]

I can just hear the music of their whispers ... when I get my 72 mgpx, perhaps I will be successful in taking shots of starlings. My shots always ends up like little dots. This is a good idea choosing to illustrate your presentation in a painterly effect. At least I (we) can use our imagination.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Kaye,

I have not tried to shoot a murmuration myself, but your shots made me consider a few of the issues.

I know they happen in very low light - so, as you discovered in the first shot, 200 iso is no good (yielding 1/5s ss), but you quickly fixed that by raising to 1250 for the second and third shots, which raised the shutter speed to 1/20s and gave better exposure.

I'm not sure what your camera is capable of iso-wise, but I'd be tempted to try even higher next time, since the shutter speed is still a bit slow for subject movement and panning. However, I'm not sure it wants to be too fast, it would probably lose context if both subject and background were frozen and sharp.

On the topic of panning, I was thinking it through; whether it is better to pan or not, but I think you have to, or else the subjects would be no more than a grey smudge against the sky with a sharp background of trees.

The series proves you learnt as you shot, the last is good balance of all the problems inherent with this subject.

Well done, Dave

[Shadowman]

Must've been quite a treat to see in person, I've seen videos of this behavior and the birds change direction so quickly must've been quite a chore to capture.

[NorthernFocus]

That's a bunch of birdies. And a photographic challenge for sure. Do they return to the same roosting spot every day?

[John 2]

Nice Capture Kaye. I prefer the non PP'd versions to your Painterly image. It's a wonderful free spectacle. The same happens up here in Blackpool (North England holiday resort) where they go to roost under the end of the North Pier.

Yes Dan, every evening at dusk the same thing happens. It's a heck of a sight where the birds move as one creating shapes in the sky and suddenly and without warning, they dive down out of sight to roost for the night..

[Wavelength]

I liked the last image, very much

For the first time i am hearing about murmuration, while i saw it i was

For those who are not lucky to see it is the link below :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakKfY5aHmY

(Hope Kaye won't mind it )

[Kaye Leggett]

Thanks all for comments. To add to John's comments Dan, yes it happens every night but in this area of the UK they do vary where they go - as luck would have it they murmured (if that is the right word) right in front of where we were standing the previous night - how you would photograph them so close would be another challenge. The reserve estimates between 1/2 and 1 million birds return here each night. If I didn't live a couple of hours drive away I would go more often and also at dawn to watch them leave.

Dave thanks for your thoughts - my only other thought on the night was to go for some video, but as I have absolutely silch experience of using my camera in video mode I decided that that evening was not the night to try it. I could have gone higher ISO but it is the age old trade off between sharpness and noise - I do go as high as 1600 and occasionally 3200 but I am always a bit disappointed with the noise created.

Nandakumar - every day is a school day. The more I learn, the more I realise I don't know, but life gets the richer for it.