canada geese Canada goose

Yet another. Comments welcome as always. Thanks. Cheers! Clive

Nice Honker Clive Regards,Bill

 

The drak blue sky is singing with dark feathers of bird in motion. W/o blur, ctystal clear image! I am thankful for sharing with us. I rate 6/6

Clive, you a becoming proficient at shooting Canadian Honkers. That's what I call them.

 

I like the composition and the color. Everything here is great, except that the neck's shadow on the left wing is a distraction for me. I think this could be improved with the wings in the up-position. 5/5

Ben:

 

I appreciate your comments. Thank you.

 

Specifically re the neck shadow. It is too severe to burn out. The sharpness and general position is suitable to warrant this as a half-decent image, so I posted it. I like how it is at near eye level.

 

BTW ... the best way to reduce unwanted shadows is to shoot birds flying low over snow covered ground or flying low over water--see some of my water shots. Snow reflects light back up onto the underbellies and REALLY is a huge aid--I should maybe post an old slide example. We may get some snow here soon, but I am afraid the ponds will ice over and the birds will go to the river for the rest of the winter. I'll probably give up until February when they will come back to my ponds on a more or less regular basis. I won't bother to shoot down at the river in winter--I may.

 

I quit taking slides of flying geese 14 years ago--I tried it for a couple of years and got a few very good slides. However, even with good AF gear back then it was just too expensive at about 40 cents per slide when I was getting one or two good images every 50 or 100 slides. Now that I am shooting the KM 7D DSLR I don't care. I still plan my outings according to time of day, sunshine, and WIND--a huge factor. Moderate wind keeps the birds lower as they come and go off "my" local marsh--across the road.

 

However, even with proper planning, timing, positioning etc etc, there are just so many variables we can't control--wing position, neck shadows etc. (Man, this is not like taking a picture of a rose in the garden, eh?.) So I plan as well as I can and shoot away changing the things I can change and not shooting when I know it is pointless. (BTW ... you should know that all of these goose images were taken anywhere from a 3-minute to 5-minute walk from my house. :) I work at home, so can come and go as conditions dictate. Lucky me.)

 

This specific picture dates back to Sept 25. Since then I've taken (what??) about 3,000 flying goose images--maybe 4,000! I took 700 on Tuesday alone!! I've had a very good week and got a few good images--including two or three this evening--which I may post later.

 

Thanks again! I appreciate the feedback.

 

Clive