Golden Goose

[Stu Bowie]

I was at my local pond in Pretoria last saturday, and managed to capture this egyptian goose on a fly by. There are certain areas at this location, that if timed well enough, you can get the subjects against distant colourful foliage. Taken on a cold early morning.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 360mm
1/2000
F/6.3
ISO 500

Exp Comp 0
Hand held

[Satish Ranadive]

Marvelous image of goose in flight, lovely composition. Very nice BG and lights. Love the great pose of goose with nice wing spread. Great details and sharpness on bird.
Regards.

[John Ippolito]

Perfect exposure and pose, sharp, and really pops against the lovely BG. I really like it Stuart.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Love the flight pose, great exposure with good details in black and white, beautiful background color and excellent sharpness. Really beautiful image.

[christopher galeski]

nice one Stuart,good flight pose and detail,nice BG,its like a mountain of gold,wish we could get light here like you have,terrible here in the uk,as been for a few months.thanks.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Stu - magic colours and a great pose, lovely capture.

[PhilCook]

All that glitters is gold...or at least a nice shade of orange.....lovely light Stuart and those wings are timed a treat , sharp and well composed, great work !

[gail bisson]

Beautiful light and flight position and IQ.
I find the BG a bit overwhelming though- for me it competes too strongly with the bird.
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:


Bird looks great, sharp, well exposed,nice pose.

I was struck by the same thing as Gail, perhaps a bit overpowering BG. Try a version with the saturation and or luminosity toned down just a bit on the BG only.

Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

Stunning flight image, Stuart. Nice and sharp and a great pose. Exposure looks spot on.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack for the feedback everyone.

Gail, Randy, I have already toned down the luminosity, but will have a look at toning down the saturation - or maybe both.

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent light, details and bg.

[Stu Bowie]

Here is my repost with Gail's and Randy's suggestions. Desaturated the yellows in the BG, and toned it down a little more in levels. WDYT?

[Marina Scarr]

While both work for me, when I look at them one right after the other, I have to say I prefer the repost.

[Lorant Voros]

I prefer the repost. Colors are just amazing. Perfectly exposed and great pose.

[Bill Dix]

Gorgeous light on the bg and the bird. Great flight pose. I did have the same initial reaction to the bg, and the repost helps for me.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

You've nailed an excellent pose, Stu. The light is gorgeous and I love the bg.
I'd brighten the bird just a tad. Sweet image!

[Jim Crosswell]

Great image Stuart! Another vote for the repost. I like the lighting, wing position, exposure, IQ and complimentary BG.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Awesome pose and light, and althuogh I have no issues with the OP I do prefer the repost. On both the BG has a "gaussian-esque" blurred quality to it.

[dankearl]

Your golden BGs are just killer.
I am always envious of the light you have there.
No problem with the BG for me, except I wish I had it.

[Rachel Hollander]

Stuart - repost for me too. Awesome light, bg color and flight pose with excellent IQ.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Little to choose between them for me, if I was going to modify the background I would perhaps have brushed it to smooth it, (but I am not convinced it is necessary)

[Doug Brown]

Nice flight pose, gorgeous light, and a pretty BG.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent light pose and BG. my vote is the original. blurring the BG in post always makes it look unnatural IMO.

[Markus Jais]

Great flight shot with wonderful wing position and fantastic light. We saw many of them in SA in January during a raptor tour but never got a great shot of them. Markus