And we have touchdown...

[Kevin Leclaire]

I was able to capture this Canadian goose's landing sequence this morning at the local reservoir. I used the 51-pt autofocus on the D300, which left the feathers looking good relatively unsharpened, but the head was a bit soft and I had to sharpen it a bit more.

Cropping question: There was a nice splash trail that I ended up cropping off much of in order to enlarge the bird in the frame (as I didn't want to crop off too much space in front of the bird, or center overmuch). This image is my compromise crop. Any suggestions for handling this type of scenario?

Nikon D300, 300mm, ISO 400, F 6.3, 1/4000

-Kevin

www.ultiphotos.com (http://www.ultiphotos.com)

[Grace Scalzo]

Hello Kevin. This is a very nice action image. I really like the splash as well as the color of the water. I believe that the splash should be horizontal, and I would rotate it ccw to achieve this. Also wish for a full wing extension...here the downstroke is just beginning. Wonder if you might have that in your series? I'm fine with this comp...just for fun, I wonder what it might look like to include most of the trail and have the goose on the right side of the frame? SOmething different...you never know.

[Kevin Leclaire]

Hello Kevin. This is a very nice action image. I really like the splash as well as the color of the water. I believe that the splash should be horizontal, and I would rotate it ccw to achieve this. Also wish for a full wing extension...here the downstroke is just beginning. Wonder if you might have that in your series? I'm fine with this comp...just for fun, I wonder what it might look like to include most of the trail and have the goose on the right side of the frame? SOmething different...you never know.

I do have two other frames that have the full wing extension, in focus and sharp, one is a just before landing shot that's a keeper, the other is subsequent to this frame and the splash in that frame obscures the goose's face, so it's a loss.

Here's the full splash trail and a 2 degree CCW correction.

-Kevin

www.ultiphotos.com

[Grace Scalzo]

I like it alot, as reposted, Kevin. I'd trim from the top and make it a pano. How do you feel?

[Kevin Leclaire]

I like it alot, as reposted, Kevin. I'd trim from the top and make it a pano. How do you feel?
I had the exact same thought. I also want to clone out a white floater in the BG to the left of the wing, but need to figure out the easiest way to do that in Capture NX.

[Arthur Morris]

I like the repost much better than the ORIG post. The splash is cool but the wing positions in this one do nothing for me... The white on the sides of the tail look hot and as you mentioned, the sharpness is marginal.