Snow Goose braking

[Robert O'Toole]

This was one of the best days for flight photography I have ever experienced at Bosque. This image is from one of those special days, the kind that make all the frozen fingers and toes and other small annoyances at bosque all worth it.
At this moment I had perfect wind at my back and nice soft diffused sunlight and geese by the 100s landing right in front of me. the only hard part was finding a single bird to isolate.


Thanks for looking, critiques welcome.

I will be leading 2 workshops at Bosque in 2009 with White Sands NM add on WS for 2 extra days.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 500mm f/4G ED VR + 1.4X, 1/1600 @ 5.6
ISO: 320

Image Copyright 2008-2009; Robert OToole Photography

[Diana Zorrilla]

It is an amazing image Robert!

Congrats! I love the BG and the landing position, coming straight at you.

Saludos,

Diana

[Arthur Morris]

Wicked wing position and nice placement of the subject in the frame. Too bad that I had to leave that day! EXP and sharpness perfect as expected.

[Robert O'Toole]

Wicked wing position and nice placement of the subject in the frame. Too bad that I had to leave that day! EXP and sharpness perfect as expected.

Thanks Artie. I wish you were there with us!

Robert

[Tony Whitehead]

Fantastic light and pose with lovely detail in the whites. Amazing to capture so much dynamism in a static image. The soft starburst shadows of the primares over the back really adds to this image.

[Adams Serra]

Hi Robert,
Congratulations, beautiful image. I have a question for you about the placement of the bird.
Why did you place the bird to the right of the frame leaving more space to the left ??
Thank you,
Adams

[Robert O'Toole]

Hi Robert,
Congratulations, beautiful image. I have a question for you about the placement of the bird.
Why did you place the bird to the right of the frame leaving more space to the left ??
Thank you,
Adams

Hey Adams,

Well I did not want to place the subject in the center, and since the bird is looking slightly to the left (our left) placement on the right side looked like the best position.
Normally I use Nikon 51 point 3D AF, all points are active, so I am able to place the bird anywhere in the frame and the AF system will hang on and not drop focus.

Thanks! Hope to see you out in the field!



Robert

[Adams Serra]

Robert,
Thank you for the answer.

Looking forward to see you again.

[Stu Bowie]

Excellent landing posture Robert. This is well exposed against a superb OOF BG. Somehow I can see this in portrait, with a little added space at the bottom. Still an outstanding image, and well done.

[John Ippolito]

This is a beautiful image. The pose, look of intense concentration, lovely BG, detail, and I agree with Tony on those shadows. Really like the wing position! Excellent!

[Ian McHenry]

Beautiful image Robert.
Ducks & geese putting the brakes on always a good challenge.
Cheers: Ian Mc