Après Bath

[Arthur Morris]

This Snow Goose flapping after a pre-dawn bath was photographed on one of the Bosque IPTs with the Canon 600mm f/4L IS II lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D X. ISO 1250. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/400 sec. at f/5.6 in Tv mode. Color temperature: 8,000K. I forgot to change it back after a nice sunrise.

Here I went to TV mode with ISO Safety Shift to get the shutter speed that I wanted: 1/400 sec. If you missed "At Long Last, As Promised: the Greatest, Most Educational Blog Post Ever? Manual… Av… Tv… Program… Which is The Best Shooting Mode?": click here. For more on Bosque see "Bosque 2014 Secrets Revealed."

As for the image, don't be shy; all comments are welcome.

[Henry Domke]

Very nice image with lots of wonderful highlight detail.
But what is that weird black stuff with the beak?
I can't zoom in to see what it is.

Merry Christmas!

[Arthur Morris]

Very nice image with lots of wonderful highlight detail.
But what is that weird black stuff with the beak?
I can't zoom in to see what it is.

Merry Christmas!

Henry. The long, black oval is called the "grinning patch." All Snow Geese have it.... Thanks and happy holidays to you too.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice pose, I like the water drops and just the right amount of motion blur

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Artie, very lovely bath picture with sharp details where you wanted them and the wings showing motion. I assume it was not possible to shoot at the same level as the bird. TFS, Loi

[christopher galeski]

nice one,nice light,good exposure,like the pose and the motion blur in the wings.thanks.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie, very lovely bath picture with sharp details where you wanted them and the wings showing motion. I assume it was not possible to shoot at the same level as the bird. TFS, Loi

I could have sat to get lower but then you bring all the other birds in the BKGR into the image. Getting low is not always best :)

[Grace Scalzo]

Fine image with tons of interesting details. Wing blur is a big plus here. Gives the sense of motion.

[David Salem]

I agree, just the right amount of blur to make the scene interesting and add a bit of motion. Techs look great. Well done.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the wing blur, HA, exposure and composition. I see a straight line in the ULC of the frame just under the s in attached images. Excellent image Arthur!

[Sandy Witvoet]

Wing blur is excellent, separates head and neck and portrays the action! Excellent focal on head, water droplets and especially eye, and also on the "tail end" at the water.... (I might give it a tad of CW rotation).....
OK... if someone doesn't know what a SG looks like (I do) ..... he kind of looks like a big Goose with a miniscule head and neck (e.g., a bit out of proportion?) I would be interested in your thoughts, Arthur. That was just my initial impression... I do, however, think this is a unique and beautiful image.

[Arthur Morris]

I like the wing blur, HA, exposure and composition. I see a straight line in the ULC of the frame just under the s in attached images. Excellent image Arthur!

Good eye Jim and thanks. I could not see it in the JPEG but did find it in the optimized TIFF. It has been repaired. I covered the partial reflection of a bird in the background.

[Arthur Morris]

Wing blur is excellent, separates head and neck and portrays the action! Excellent focal on head, water droplets and especially eye, and also on the "tail end" at the water.... (I might give it a tad of CW rotation).....
OK... if someone doesn't know what a SG looks like (I do) ..... he kind of looks like a big Goose with a miniscule head and neck (e.g., a bit out of proportion?) I would be interested in your thoughts, Arthur. That was just my initial impression... I do, however, think this is a unique and beautiful image.

Thanks Sandy. Not sure exactly what you are asking but Snow Goose seems nicely proportioned to me....

[adrian dancy]

Exposure, detail colour all look good. However, I swim against the tide on this one regarding the wing blur but I cannot be sure why. Whilst wing blur is good, it does have a slightly jarring effect to my eye possibly because the blurred feathers (which are dark) are so close to the bird's head. Does that make sense? Just my view though. Oddly I think the image may be improved by blurring more. The background (especially upper third) appears just a tad blotchy probably as result of cleaning up reflections?

Sandy has made a point which I can relate too since I experienced the same initial impression also but quickly dismissed it. The near wing sort augments body shape giving the illusion that the bird's body is larger than it really is. I am sure the snow goose is very nicely proportioned :)

I might add that I have returned to this image several times before committing myself to this opinion.

[Holger Leyrer]

I love the action. Your timing was very good. Exposure and details are great.
All is said to an lower angle. This was my first to thought

[Sandy Witvoet]

Thanks, Arthur and Adrian.... really appreciate your responses to my post. I, too, have returned to this image several times... the more I look, the more I enjoy it...and that is a good thing! Wings should be bigger than head...proportionately! (I'm still a neophyte on CC, so hope my comments are ok!)

[Arthur Morris]

I love the action. Your timing was very good. Exposure and details are great. All is said to an lower angle. This was my first to thought

Thanks. As elsewhere, a lower angle would bring in birds from the BKGR--not sure if you saw that.

[Arthur Morris]

Exposure, detail colour all look good. However, I swim against the tide on this one regarding the wing blur but I cannot be sure why. Whilst wing blur is good, it does have a slightly jarring effect to my eye possibly because the blurred feathers (which are dark) are so close to the bird's head. Does that make sense? Just my view though. Oddly I think the image may be improved by blurring more. The background (especially upper third) appears just a tad blotchy probably as result of cleaning up reflections?

Sandy has made a point which I can relate too since I experienced the same initial impression also but quickly dismissed it. The near wing sort augments body shape giving the illusion that the bird's body is larger than it really is. I am sure the snow goose is very nicely proportioned :)

I might add that I have returned to this image several times before committing myself to this opinion.

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. The image here is the orginal. Note the effects of my 8000K error :).

[Frank Schauf]

Great pose and setting you have here.