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Last Dance
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Last Dance

by Gary Minish

Gallery: AvianPosted July 30, 20182,071 views2 comments
I was trying to get some photos of ducks on the tide flats when a flock of Snow Geese landed a couple hundred yards away.  I was walking along the beach at the time and didn't have anywhere to go so I just stood there and watched them.  They started grazing in the grass and were working their way directly toward me so I just stood still and waited for about a half hour.  They eventually came within 20 yards and started bedding down.  I kept my motions slow and easy and they didn't seem to be bothered. In fact they started to take a nap!  The goose in this photo started doing some before bed exercises and I swung the camera as fast as I could to catch the action but didn't want to startle them so I was a little slow.  Consequently the primary subject ended up on the left half of the frame so I decided to do a square crop to make a more pleasing image.  The right side of the frame just had a couple more geese bedding down.  Please view large and let me know if it worked OK.

Sony a6500, FE100400GSM @ 400mm, ISO-250, f/5.6, 1/2500, hand held.

Comments

2 comments
Comment posted by Keith Bauer on July 30, 2018 at 9:40 AM
Gary:  cool image again.  Based on comments on your last eagle image and the luminance, this image again is very dark.  Here's a quick version just setting the white point to the brightest part on any of the ducks (determined using a Threshold adjustment layer).

See what you think on your monitor.
Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments
Comment posted by Dennis Plank on July 30, 2018 at 8:49 PM
The composition works for me, Gary.  I think the image could benefit from a brightness increase-it looks pretty dim on my monitor.  You might think about cloning out the two tails on the left of the image and the rock between the lower right bird and the edge-it makes it look like a head or other appendage and disrupts the flow of the image for me.  Your patience paid off nicely on this one.
Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments