Sleeping In

Gallery: AvianPosted January 28, 2012259 views18 comments

I captured this pair of geese yesterday "Sleeping In" on a very cold and foggy morning. Shot at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, WA the lighting conditions were horrible for most of the morning and then a few faint patches of blue sky added some color and hope to an otherwise somber morning. While wrestling with the lighting the detail is not ideal but I still like this for the artistic quality.

Larger version available, thanks for stopping!

canon 7D
canon 600mm f4.oL IS USM
F/11 1/80 ISO 500
auto window beanbag rest, CS5, LR3, Niks suite

Comments

18 comments

Comment posted by Alan Murphy on January 28, 2012 at 4:32 PM

The reflection makes the image for me.

Registered on December 3, 2003, 192 Posts, 739 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on January 28, 2012 at 4:33 PM

Craig, I really like this. Reminds me of a Robert Bateman painting. Nicely composed with great detail and a beautiful reflection with just a hint of a ripple. Well done.

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on January 28, 2012 at 5:28 PM

love your comp and the colors and reflection in the water, Craig. good dof, and the geese look quite good given the difficult conditions. I think that it would benefit from a little more sharpening.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on January 28, 2012 at 5:49 PM

Love this image. Would have been even better if the geese had cooperated a little more with better head positions.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on January 28, 2012 at 7:38 PM

I like the perspective, the soft earth tone colors, and the nice reflection.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Schiebelbein on January 28, 2012 at 9:37 PM

Very nice artistic presentation Craig. I like the way you can just see the one eye on both geese.

Registered on November 8, 2008, 55 Posts, 393 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 28, 2012 at 10:47 PM

Beautiful composition, Craig.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Heironymus on January 28, 2012 at 11:03 PM

Sweet!!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 36 Posts, 1110 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on January 29, 2012 at 12:05 AM

This has a very peaceful feel to it. Very Nice Work Craig

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on January 29, 2012 at 6:01 AM

Like the monotone feel and comp Craig

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on January 29, 2012 at 10:40 AM

I like the feel of this Craig. The geese facing opposite directions and the nice habitat makes this work for me.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Fabio Giarrizzo on January 29, 2012 at 10:43 AM

Great quality of light and fine reflection on this image- A beautiful delicate palette as well- Very well done, Fabio

Registered on December 3, 2010, 90 Posts, 1614 Comments

Comment posted by Allen Brooks on January 29, 2012 at 1:28 PM

Very pleasing photo. I like how the background colors complements the geese. Nicely composed.

For my own education, I'm curious as to why you chose the settings you did for this particular shot. Thanks.

Registered on July 27, 2011, 262 Posts, 2597 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Strand on January 29, 2012 at 1:59 PM

Allen,
Thanks for your comment. The settings I used on this mornings shoot were a wide range from my normal settings. It was 24 degrees with a fairly heavy blanket of fog close to the ground. I tried a variety of settings for enough light including boosting my ISO and although canons 7D is known to function well under much higher ISO's I also wanted to limit the noise factor. As it turned out the image is a bit soft and after sharpening twice with NIK's pre and post sharpeners I still had some noise so I ran NIK's Dfine twice to knock down as much noise as possible. I usually shoot my 600mm at an 8 f-stop but increased that to increase the DOF for the farthest goose. With the lighting conditions it was a day of just doing the best one could.

Craig

Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments

Comment posted by Allen Brooks on January 29, 2012 at 2:36 PM

Thanks, Craig. It is helpful to see how others are setting up for their bird shots.

Registered on July 27, 2011, 262 Posts, 2597 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on January 29, 2012 at 8:23 PM

Nice soft colors and peaceful mood. Agree that a little more sharpness would make the image stronger.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on January 29, 2012 at 10:15 PM

Hi Craig

Artistically . composed, with a marvelous mood

Albert Darmo
Canada

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by Luca Mussato on January 30, 2012 at 3:07 AM

I like the composition and the soft color. I'm not sure about the focus, i mean the main subjects seem to be a bit OOF especially in the larger version. maybe it's just me.

Cheers, Luca

Registered on November 14, 2006, 118 Posts, 855 Comments