Male Goosander

[Mike Poole]

Normally it's a nightmare trying to get close to these guys, but after a period of him getting used to me being there, this handsome fella decided to swim past. Typically, the one time you have too much focal length, they come into the nice unshaded area, so I had to add a little extra canvas to the top and a smidgen on the right

Nikon d500
600mm f4 + 1.4x
ISO 1600
1/800th f5.6

Mike

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Mike, lovely low angle here, and you timed the angled swim by nicely. The light has brought out the iridescence on the head very well, and I do like the waters reflection on the lower body. Killer BG too.

[dankearl]

Nice POV but he is bit too close, would have been nice to get the beak and a bit more in the focus plane.

[gail bisson]

Terrific POV.
Your canvas extension looks great- I would never have known.
The blacks and whites look great and your BG has wonderful colors.
The light has shown the iridescence very nicely.
I do not mind the tip of bill being outside of DOF but I would clone out the specular highlight on the tip. It catches my eye and makes me notice the lack of DOF.
Very nice-your patience paid off!
Gail

[Bill Dix]

Very nice close-up - almost too close but you handled that well. Love the background and the POV.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful colours and great detail Mike. A striking image.
I can attest to their inapproachability, I've been up to the lake at West Kirby but the goosanders and goldeneyes are staying slab dab in the middle.

[William Dickson]

Well done Mike, not an easy bird to get close to...These birds look great at this time of the year, and the colours are spot on. Good POV and what lovely colours on the BG.

Well done

Will

[John Mack]

The point of view are great. These birds are hard to get close to over here as well. Love the sheen on the head.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Sharp where it needs to be , and good control of the whites and blacks. Nice low angle, and colous in the BG. There is a sliver of white canvas in lower left corner showing, presumably due to canvas rotation. These guys are very tough to approach here too.