Cerealism by Ernie Button

Looks more like a bow-legged duck

'Shopped

I was gonna call 'duck' too!

also, rotate the pic before publishing it, you crazy 'national geographic' magazine, you!

Self-referential wildlife ftw!

Should have a longer beak, eh?

I LOVE THEM IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM!!

Am I also supposed to believe that this is a rare breed of flamingo that has never had any contact with the outside world and lives like cavepeoples?

Wow, that seems at first to scream "Photoshop!", but I think it might actually be real.

That's pretty awesome. I've never seen a flamingo in its natural habitat, only in zoos, so just the volume of them is pretty neat to see.

I don't think it's shopped, but I do think there is a kind of bias in perception. It doesn't look like a flamingo, it looks like a duck or goose.

Take a look at the 'beak' instead of being long and curved down, this one is short and curved up.

Also the body shape is squat and round with the 'legs' oriented toward the rear of the body.

Another way it could be 'shopped would be to selectively dredge/fill the lakebed to create depths appropriate to the shape you want them to form. Call it "geoshopping."

If it was on anything but national geographic I'd say it was photoshopped.. but I'll go with luck and multiple shots...

Luck... to have Photoshop available. It's not their first shopped image (there is one about pyramids that is known for a while).

If in truth it is shopped then shame on NG for that. They have always touted to have the best ethical ideals for photography in that nothing should be retouched. But if this is a real honest "hand on heart" picture than that's pretty neat.

if it was photoshopped,it would probably look more like a flamingo. but as it is, its really cool!