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Sue Palmer
01-05-2008, 12:08 PM
They winter here in great numbers, over 100,000, on the Skagit flats, and tend to congregate in large groups. What I try to do is catch the wonderful patterns of flight that occurs when an eagle checks them out. On this I was following the leading edge of the lift-off.

Canon EOS Mark III, 400mm f5.6L, 1.4 teleconverter, Iso 1000, f8, 1/2000,+.33EV
Full frame after correcting for a slight handheld tilt.
I do so wish I could capture on camera the wonderful sights I see, this is one of my better efforts.
Sue

Alfred Forns
01-05-2008, 01:14 PM
Hi Sue,

Looks like you have great opportunities for blastoffs !!!! A couple of things will make a blastoff great First is a clean lower edge You got that perfect If anything would like to see a little more Just an area with no birds

Would try the same with the blasting birds Have a separation between the ones on the ground and fliers Lots of luck in this one

Last having the clean upper edge Same as for the bottom

With blastoffs you will have the best images at the start First couple of seconds For fun try some blurs Set your ss to 1/15 or lower and watch what happens For the real slow ss leave the camera set and don't pan You want to see the moving birds blurred and the ones on the ground sort of sharp

Hoping to see some great blastoffs !!!!!!!

Judd Patterson
01-05-2008, 07:09 PM
Hi Sue! It does look like you have a bunch of great subjects around. I love the dense goose concentration that you captured, but wish that the building wasn't in the upper-left. Is it possible to find some good vantage points with fewer man-made distractions in the background?

Oh, and you might want to edit your profile and fill in your location. I had to look up the Skagit flats as that was new to me! See you around. :)

George DeCamp
01-05-2008, 07:59 PM
Looks like a great place to see this! Good advice above, I too would like the house cropped off and down into the flock a little. Maybe you can also crop a little off the right up to the leading edge of the birds. With a top crop and a little off the right and maybe the bottom seems this image would be stronger.

Sue Palmer
01-05-2008, 08:52 PM
Al. I appreciate your thoughtful suggestions, what really catches my eye while watching these goose-eagle shows,, is the leading edge and triangle shape of the birds taking off. What I also liked here, the full attention of the birds on the ground on the approaching eagle.
Judd, I will edit my profile to include that info, the NW corner of Washington State is a great place for wintering birds, and due to weather, frequently the watching is much better than the photo ops.with cold and damp and low light, even midday. I'm waiting for a camera with low noise at 640,000 ISO.
George, this was taken on Fir Island, looking N toward the N fork of the Skagit River. Fir Island is farming country, but the entire area is 'developing' all too quickly.. that house was built last year, and more are being built on that hill. The geese do move around in that area, and there will be chances to catch that action with better backgrounds.. Mt Baker comes to mind.
And again , delighted to find this site, as I expect to learn alot from all the marvelous images and thoughtful comments posted here

Sue Palmer
01-07-2008, 11:53 AM
Does this help my image?