Greylag Goose

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image at Lake Morton in Lakeland, Florida. This goose is not native to Florida but through escape and other means had developed a feral population. A big goose, very heavy bodied. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm F/5.6 VR AF-S ED PF, Handheld
1/1600 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 2000 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 500mm (750mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2021 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Pretty much full frame

P.S. Learn more about Lake Morton in the BAA Middle Florida Photography Site Guide that Artie and I co-authored. It is available at this link https://birdsasart-shop.com/the-baa-middle-of-florida-photographic-site-guide/

[John Mack]

A nice portrait of this goose. Nice detail on those feathers. See these guys on the lake sometimes where I live. They are usually quite vocal.

[Brian Sump]

Joe, the textures and colors are looking really good here. I think you processed it very nicely.

A great pose and the comp works overall. Love the eye and the catchlight, although Artie may not due to being slightly closed [shrug].

It would have been nice to get more of the beak IF. I was trying to figure out why the beak was out but the chest was in, and I guess the beak was far enough back to lose dof?

Anyway, a nice frame to view thank you.

[Kurt Bowman]

Nice portrait Joe, I like the eye and feather detail. I also wish the beak was more in focus. Still nicely done!

[Joseph Przybyla]

Brian and Kurt, thank you for viewing and commenting and suggesting improvement to the image. I worked on the image after reading your comments. I think goose's bill was not as sharp as the feathers because of the texture and hard edges of the feathers vs. the smooth edges and texture of the bill. Sharpen for the bill and the feathers are over sharpened, sharpen for the feathers and the bill is soft. In this edit and repost I used the Adjustment Brush to apply local sharpening, contrast and clarity to the bill only. I think it is a improvement. WDYT?

[Duncan Groenewald]

Wow very nice - first time I have seen a bird with teeth !! Amazing detail.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Joe .. very cool tight portrait !!!
Regarding sharpness .. well DOF was just not enough .
And I think the RP has not really solved the issue , and LR is honestly not the right tool to create fake sharpness , IMHO.

TFS Andreas

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Joe .. very cool tight portrait !!!
Regarding sharpness .. well DOF was just not enough .
And I think the RP has not really solved the issue , and LR is honestly not the right tool to create fake sharpness , IMHO.

TFS Andreas

Hi Andreas, now you have me intrigued, what would be the right tool to create fake sharpness? Thank you for viewing and commenting.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Joe ... as most of the times there are many ways to skin a cat .
In this case I used HIGH PASS filter in PS ... with various blend modes on a smart object layer . One can discuss the intensity of the sharpening ... no question .

Cheers Andreas

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Joe ... as most of the times there are many ways to skin a cat .
In this case I used HIGH PASS filter in PS ... with various blend modes on a smart object layer . One can discuss the intensity of the sharpening ... no question .

Cheers Andreas

Looks good, Andreas. Something I will have to try to learn. I have tinkered with the High Pass Filter in Photoshop but never had much success with it. Thanks for showing me another way.