Canada Goose Portrait

Gallery: AvianPosted March 1, 2016129 views10 comments

Another from the day at Nisqually last Thursday. I did increase the contrast in this one a little bit and raised the brightness. This was one of a small flock hanging out at the trail and it showed no signs of wanting to leave. It was near the top of the dike giving me a reasonably nice angle and a clean bg. I did soften the two twigs to the right but decided not to clone them out.

7D2, Sigma 150-600 C @ 600, Wimberley sideckick and Arca Swiss Z1 Monoball on Gitzo 3441 legs (old legs, new heads), f/8, 1/1000, iso 800, aperture priority, pattern metering. Processed in LR5 & CS6. Cropped to 16.9 MP before resizing for web. Taken at 9:42 AM on February 25th at Nisqually NWR.

Comments and criticisms are welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks,

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on March 2, 2016 at 9:21 AM

Really like the creamy background and the vegetation in the beak.

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

Comment posted by Jerry Marella on March 2, 2016 at 9:32 AM

Nice one, Dennis. The background looks great and your choice for the twigs was a good one. I've never seen a Canada goose with such a short beak. I had to look in my book to see which race it is. Richardson's race is a goose that I've never seen in the Midwest. Nicely captured!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 142 Posts, 862 Comments

Comment posted by Allen Brooks on March 2, 2016 at 11:44 AM

Hi Dennis, Nice shot of the goose (I think it might be a Cackling Goose-short neck and beak). I like the head turn and the grass in its mouth. Great background. Looks fairly sharp at 600 mm. I've been impressed with what you've done with this new lens.

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

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on March 2, 2016 at 12:59 PM

Excellent detail and great background. I like the veggies, too. cool

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by William Bickle on March 2, 2016 at 1:56 PM

Hello Dennis, ... Excellent Portrait !

Bill
WWW.BillBickle.com

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on March 2, 2016 at 6:17 PM

I like the moody feel to this image, Dennis. You got an excellent head turn and the vegetation in the mouth is interesting. The composition looks very complementary. Nice techs to get both the blacks and whites. devil

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on March 2, 2016 at 7:05 PM

Hi Dennis,

Everything in this image is subtle and moody which is a good thing. Better yet, this is one of the small-billed races of the Canada goose (Cackling Canada goose). Composition and placement of the bird in the frame is good and the 2 branches on the right fit in nicely. BG is nice too. devil

...................................Jim

Registered on January 17, 2004, 705 Posts, 3594 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 2, 2016 at 10:07 PM

Looks like a Cackling Goose to me. Very nice portrait Dennis, I particularly like the bit of grass in the beak. I think this comp works reasonably well but I think it would also work well cropped to vertical (cropping more closely on the right to remove one twig and then cloning out the other) as long as the image quality held up. devil

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on March 3, 2016 at 5:32 PM

Hi Dennis, the soft light let you create a very cool portrait of this goose. I like the blended colors in the background. And yea, the grass in the beaks adds charm. Nice work! devil

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on March 5, 2016 at 9:30 AM

Lovely mute light in this image, Dennis ! Very nice ! Cheers, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments