Wild Goose Chase

[dankearl]

Canada Goose flew too close to the Osprey nest this morning..
It was dark out, I shot at 1/2000, should have been faster and this is
a wheeling grab shot.
D500, 420mm (300 f2.8 w/ 1.4tc), f4, 1/2000, iso4000
PP in C1P, PP

goose3bp2.jpg (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=186088&stc=1&d=1587927530)

[Randy Stout]

Dan:

Great story telling image, like the open bills on both, the eye contact of the osprey with his target, colors.

A near impossible task to get both birds I the same plane of focus with this f/stop. Nice job.

I might revisit the noise reduction on the birds again, see if it could be backed off a bit to allow a bit more detail, esp. in the gooses head and neck ( and I admit there often isn't a lot of visible texture there.)

Nice reaction to this rapidly developing situation!!

Congrats

Randy

[John Mack]

Neat frame. Like how both mouths are open. Image quality looks pretty good.

[Colin Driscoll]

Great action shot Dan and the IQ is more than passable.
I'm curious about what AF point array you used and where they focused as both birds are off center.

[arash_hazeghi]

super dynamic action and a contest winning shot. I think you handled ISO 4000 on the D500 nicely (it is outside its comfort zone) the feather details on the osprey look pretty good to my eye . was the original over exposed? the osprey's head can use a bit of toning down. refreshing to see shots like this, not just another boring floating duck :D

TFS

[dankearl]

Thanks Arash,
I overexposed. I shoot 2/3 stop over anytime it is gloomy out.
This is 60% crop but I just turned down exposure and noise went away.
I don't worry about blown whites in dark gloomy light. I worry more about noise.
I am not that happy with the details on the Osprey, he was in Peregrine chase mode,
look at the wings. 1/2000 not nearly fast enough.
I stick with the values in your guide for iso2500 , I use those numbers up to iso6400
and they work well I think.
Randy, I always appreciate your comments! Getting 2 sharp in the frame is just luck as far as DOF.
It takes skill to get them in the frame, but f16 would not get them sharp unless they were in same plane
so I just shoot wide open almost all the time.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Impressive shot, - very so well done. Colours good but I think the NR is excessive, I think it would look more natural if you reduced it.

[gail bisson]

What a great grab shot!
Some technical (minor issues) that are easily overlooked because of the great action shown,
Gail

[Ryan Hooper]

It amazes me how quick your reflexes are Dan. I was standing 15 feet away from you and didn’t even get a frame off. It happened so quick.

Great action, Tells a story. My favorite part is the little drops coming off the tail of the goose. Goose quite literally pee’d his pants.

there are a few issues but you have already stated them and can be overlooked by the great action sequence.

Cant wait to do it again

TFS
Ryan

[Dorian Anderson]

Yeah, this is a great behavior/interaction frame! The look on the goose is priceless! You were super lucky to get two large birds in such good focus. Sure, you're shutter could have been a bit faster, but you have zero time
to prepare for a grab shot like this. This result is great given the impromptu circumstances. My only issue is the frame feels a bit cold, but I said the same thing about the other Osprey shot in the feed so maybe it's my problem!

[Andreas Liedmann]

Nice grab shot ....

TFS Andreas