At least I guess thats what he is doing. Wasn't really flapping. In hindsight I wish I'd had a lower iso and wider aperture, but the plan was to shoot flying ducks/geese. The smaller aperture really emphasised the busy BG so I did a multilayer mask with noise reduction on one, the a slight gaussian blur and vertical motion blur on the other, then I blended those two. I also lightened the shadows on right breast and wing, and did some sharpening. Perch maybe oversharp?
nikon D500, Sigma 150-500 at 500mm, F9 at 1/800 sec., iso 640, spot metering.
Hi Jim. I really like the subtle earth tones in this image and the nice pose you captured. I think you did a great job with the masking for the bg although I see something funny around the bottom edge of the birds left wing. Not sure if it is the water or missed masking?. Nice detail too
Very nice comp. The sticks coming out of the water are distracting to me, I would try to clone them out so the vegetation has a uniform height above the water on that side. I agree with Cheryl, almost looks like some glowing to me off of the left wing but I think it is reflection - still might be worth trying to clone out or subdue.
On the pose, I've seen this in a number of other species - Anhingas and Black Vultures to name a couple - and I thought it was a behavior to get attention and either attract a mate or some kind of territorial claim. Not sure if that is right or not, I'd like to learn more about it.
Although a common subject, I find these guys quite photogenic. I like the pose and color tones. Sharpening looks okay to me on the bird but I do find the area he's standing looks a little too sharp, probably due to the specular highlights and shadows.
Goose wing drying
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