Taken about two weeks ago when their cuteness level was at it's peak...
Canon 40D, EF 400mm f/5.6L
f7.1 @ 1/400th, ISO 200
Manual mode, pattern metering, handheld (sitting on ground)
Small crop, sharpening, cloned out a piece of trash in BG and a stick in the FG
I love the pose - the eye contact makes this shot special. How tight was the crop? The grass just in front looks sharper than the feathers - not sure if that is accentuated by the small crop or not. Great exposure and colors.
This is endearing! The little guy(or gal) is looks well exposed with good detail. The little bit of grass at the end of the bill adds interest to the image in my opinion. I think the color of the grass compliments the brown shades of the gosling. I also like your placement of the gosling's head in frame.
I do find the bright sky a bit distracting but, I do think the gosling is strong enough to make the image. If your personal ethics allow there are multiple options that could be used tone down the sky. The one I tried was to add a gradient to a blank layer above the background layer. I selected a dark blue for the color and adjusted the opacity to taste. I'll leave it up to all of you as whether it is an improvement or not.
Thanks Hank and Phil. Phil, that is actually the lake water in the BG so blue is perfect. I couldn't figure out how to get more blue in there without it looking fake - the gradient is a great idea! Hank, I'd say the crop (if I remember correctly) is maybe 20-25% at most. I had my 400mm and was only a few feet away (as close as the parents would let me get without ruffling anyone's feathers) so it did fill most of the frame. It could be I got the focus off the back area as I was really trying for the beak to eye area to be in focus.
I wanted to try get some pictures this spring of the goslings, but time has not permitted. Of course there may still be a few late ones here in Indiana. The gosling is really cute. I normally am not real crazy about the bill pointing straight forward, but in this picture it works really well. I think it makes for more of an intimate picture. The upper right corner draws attention. If you learn how to darken the water per Phil's instructions that will help make it a really great image.