Stunning image of flamingos gathered as one flamingo the 'holy grail' of wildlife photography

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Telegraph

Stunning image of flamingos gathered as one flamingo the 'holy grail' of wildlife photography
The remarkable moment a flock of flamingos spontaneously gathered in the form of one giant bird has been captured by a wildlife photographer in Mexico.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01768/Flamingos-620_1768342b.jpg

A flock of flamingos photographed off the coast of the Yucatan, Mexico
Photo: ROBERT HAAS / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC / CATERS NEWS

By Andrew Hough 7:00AM GMT 23 Nov 2010

The incredible moment was captured by Bobby Haas, an aerial photographer in Yucatan, Mexico, in the north east of the country.

He described the formation, one of several hundred photographs he had taken flying above the flock, as the "holy grail" of wildlife photography.

He photographed the flock of flamingos from a helicopter when the birds spontaneously formed in a giant version of themselves.

As he was finishing the 30 minute shoot and his helicopter was about to leave, he turned for a final shot and noticed how the birds had formed.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/8152950/Stunning-image-of-flamingos-gathered-as-one-flamingo-the-holy-grail-of-wildlife-photography.html

[geckosfeet]

1. Are you sure. It looks like Jesus Christ weeping to me.

Just kidding.

Yes. A flamingo. A giant pink flamingo.

[Pacifist Patriot]

25. I was going to say the Virgin Mary at about 7 months along.

[deutsey]

2. Wow.

:wow:

[liberal N proud]

3. Incredible

[Botany]

4. talk about "flipping the bird"

[BlueIris]

56. Oh, dude...my god.

So, so bad.

:rofl:

[tanyev]

5. Wonder how many other shapes they made after he left?

"Okay, now do the bunny on 1...2...3. Great! Does everyone remember how to make the cat?"

[CurtEastPoint]

7. Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl n/t

[Buck Turgidson]

34. Surely you can't be serious.

n/t

[CurtEastPoint]

35. Have you ever seen a grown...

[gort]

44. And Leon is getting larger!

[Arkansas Granny]

6. That is absolutely incredible. Had I seen this published by someone other

then National Geographic, I would wonder if it was real.

[TheEuclideanOne]

16. The better question might be

Wow, now even National Geographics is getting suckered by some guy with Photoshop? If I had some time today, I coud get an image of a flamingo with a shadow and an image of a lake and just copy/paste my way into some really creative images.

[Igel]

40. LOL.

Saved me the trouble of posting. (So instead I post about not having to post.)

[druidity33]

66. and if i had the full sized file

i could tell you had manipulated it. What's your point?

:shrug:

[pokercat999]

8. Great ad for "Invisible Fence".........nt

[Roland99]

9. And just in time for Turkey Day

(my grandfather used to call them "pink turkeys". I still do today :) )

[raccoon]

10. Isn't that sweet? nt

[sinkingfeeling]

11. I think they're trying to tell us something!

[jberryhill]

12. "Get off my lawn" /nt

[eppur_se_muova]

29. LOL! nt

[NinetySix]

13. Amazing! And it's not even April 1st!

Who knew flamingoes could use Photoshop so expertly?!?

[blondeatlast]

14. In times like these, I NEED stuff like this!

Very cool. Just one of those incredible, fleeting moments that someone just managed to be somewhat prepared for.

[TheEuclideanOne]

19. Pretty Good work, I must say. I wish he added shadows for all of the flamingos though

Those stupid flamingos at the bottom forgot their shadows. Where is the worksmanship of today's hoaxes? Sloppy I tell ya. Is it that hard to add shadows to the ones at the bottom? He did some of them, but geez. Slacker

[gristy]

31. You are correct, sir

Those flamingos did indeed forget their shadows.

[Qutzupalotl]

45. I think those shadows are obscured by other birds.

The sun is low and shadows are extended. The long skinny legs don't help.

I think I see the birds in front you're talking about, but in each case there's a nearby bird that could be taking the shadow. With this low resolution, it's difficult to say, but I don't see anything I can point to as fakery.

[Pithlet]

57. You are correct. If you look closely you can see their shadows.

They're underneath the other birds in front of them. If you look along the edge of the top of the image, the shadows of the birds stretch out and away, not directly under the birds. So, if you look at those "shadowless" birds, and then look at the birds near them, you'll note that there are some shadows under those birds. Those are the shadows of those "shadowless" birds.

[Pithlet]

58. You are correct. If you look closely you can see their shadows.

They're underneath the other birds in front of them. If you look along the edge of the top of the image, the shadows of the birds stretch out and away, not directly under the birds. So, if you look at those "shadowless" birds, and then look at the birds near them, you'll note that there are some shadows under those birds. Those are the shadows of those "shadowless" birds.

[Judi Lynn]

48. Didn't it occur to you his helicopter is almost right ABOVE the birds with no or short shadows?

It would be strange if the ones far closer to him had long shadows. He's looking DOWN at them from almost directly above the ones with short shadows, or no shadows. You can see the same effect yourself looking down at any grouping of small objects. Completely normal.

[TheEuclideanOne]

52. If you look at the flamingos near the duck's "butt" you will see

that some of those flamingos have pretty long shadows and ones right next to them have no shadows.

[Pithlet]

55. Their shadows are just obscured.

I don't see any birds with missing shadows. They're just in a spot where their shadows are covered by other birds.

[TheEuclideanOne]

61. I just updated the image and gave the duck a more realistic beak

A small but important improvement IMHO. I could do better I am sure with more time.

[uppityperson]

67. Good job but the poor flamingo is blind, needs an eye.

[TheEuclideanOne]

68. That is a good obersvation

If I have a few minutes tonight, I might get more creative with it, but I think that the topic has died down a bit. I actually just did my bit of handiwork with Microsoft Paint.

If I had more free time, I could create Flamingos in the Shape of Obama's name so that people can conclude that God has spoken and he is an Obama supporter.

[uppityperson]

69. Oooooooo, THAT would be wonderful!

[uppityperson]

53. The angle of the sun causes shadows, not the angle of the viewer.

[Control-Z]

64. Funny, huh?

I was laughing too hard to post it, though.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Just imagine how long it took him to lay the cement in just the right pattern

:evilgrin:

[baldguy]

17. Looks more like a duck.

[Botany]

27. You see the glass as half empty vs half filled don't you?

[baldguy]

33. No, I see a duck.

You'd think flamingos would know what flamingos look like.

Maybe they're trying to impress the ducks?

[TheEuclideanOne]

37. Best response evvaaarrr...

You see the glass as half empty instead of half full...
No, I see a duck.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Igel]

42. Not impress.

Attract. They're secretly carnivorous.

You just can't see the shotguns hidden under their wings from the air.

[Igel]

41. Well, now.

Between the allegedly sloppy Photoshopping and the crappy figure itself, there's no wonder he went into photography instead of graphic design.

Then again, if you have to photoshop your photography, perhaps he should try being a FDA inspector or TSA "professional". Then nobody would be surprised by the lack of expertise.

I, too, thought it a duck--but for the too-long legs.

[kenfrequed]

18. err... Metaphor concern

To use the metaphor of 'the holy grail' is to usually describe a singular object or circumstance long sought in nature or science. Am I to believe that this image was one that had been long congectured and pursued? Is there some extra-spatial capacity that was theorized that this image supports?

Really, I am thoroughly confused.

[Richardo]

20. Reminds me of another amazing photo of a natural formation - a sand dune in Africa...

...shaped like Africa.

[NBachers]

21. They're a little too flamingo-centric, I'd say

Nothing on Snopes about it

[Arkansas Granny]

28. I was skeptical, too, but the picture is on the National Geographic website as a photo of the day.

I'm pretty sure their photo editors would have been able to spot an altered picture. I'd be very surprised to find that they had been duped.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/animals/

[fasttense]

22. Looks like a monkey on a swing to me.

But I can also see the duck, or bird outline. It's like gazing at clouds or ink blots.

[blackspade]

23. Pretty awesome!

Thanks for posting. It was a nice way to start the day.
Mother nature never ceases to amaze me.

[valerief]

24. That beats a fuzzy Mary on Toast any day! nt

[peacetalksforall]

26. What I question is the color of the water. Good food in a shallow space and

they muddied the waters?

[Judi Lynn]

49. They're standing on sand. n/t

[ProdigalJunkMail]

30. meta-flamingo! n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

32. Flashmobmingo! Or flashmingomob.

[cliffordu]

36. PHOTOSHOP

I have no proof, of course, but that'd be the way I'd do it,

[AngryAmish]

43. I can tell by the pixels

[woo me with science]

51. How so?

I'm curious. I would like it to be real.

[madisongrace]

63. If you open it in Photoshop....

You can see what looks to be smudging and cloning around some of the birds.

[Rex]

47. Me too.

Looks to 3-D for me to believe they formed naturally that way. My question is how many times does that occur, with no one around to take a picture?

[Skittles]

65. if it was photoshopped, it would be a perfect flamingo

[Matariki]

38. Distress signal to passing UFOs?

Please rescue us before Mayan Calendar ends! ;-)

[hootinholler]

39. You can't even see their instruments

Next the band morphed into the phrase "BEAT OHIO"

-Hoot

P.S. Sorry, football kinda gets to me.

[Rex]

46. Hmmm.

[MadHound]

50. Nice shot of the birds, but I can't help but notice the water,

Looks like it is horribly polluted.

[muriel_volestrangler]

54. In what way does it look polluted? (nt)

[Posteritatis]

59. Or, y'know, a couple of inches deep. (nt)

[Duer 157099]

60. And yet again the fish don't get their proper recognition

That school of fish in the water that worked their little tails off to make that flamingo formation don't get the credit, as usual.

[lumberjack_jeff]

62. "I'd like to see a nature film...

“...where an eagle swoops down and pulls a fish out of a lake, and then maybe he's flying along, low to the ground, and the fish pulls a worm out of the ground. Now that's a documentary.” - Jack Handey

The photo was like a Rhorschak test, I guess, so I kinda went for the free association thing.