Canadian goose in flight

[jimboudreaux]

Hey everybody, I've been trying to find something interesting enough for my fast action shot for my final. What do you think of this shot of a goose in flight? Do you think it would work well for my fast action shot? This was shot at f/5.6, 1/1000, iso 200.
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This other shot came out kinda neat, but I'm not too sure about it.
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[jimboudreaux]

Actually, here's another one that might work.
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I know that pictures are supposed to be more interesting if there are groups of 3.

[delboy]

Hi Jim,

My choice would be #1. The reason I like to see action frozen in bird shots. But that's my choice and I am not saying it is the best. You have captured good feather detail of the birds wings. I would crop a little from the left and top and bottom but still retaining the bird in the right lower quarter of the photo giving a good ROT, and if possible increase the contrast and sharpen a little.

Regards

Delboy.

[Kaye]

Hi Jim
Nice series of BIF's here. I too think No. 2 is a neat shot, but not for the assignment.

Between 1 & 3, I personally would go for No. 3 as the main bird has more sharpness, although lacks some detail due to light.
I would probably crop No. 3 a little, keeping to ROT, and try running it through Shadows and Highlights in PS, which I think should lighten the bird a little to see some more detail.

[jimboudreaux]

thanks for the input Delboy and Kaye. How does this re-edited version look?
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[Kaye]

Hi Jim, I like your edited version better, but still feel you can bring out more detail. I hope you don't mind... in order to see if what I was saying was possible, I had a go at a quick edit, and hope you don't mind me posting these.
The first I left the crop the same as your shot above, and the second I cropped as I had originally thought, as I felt the top bird was a little distracting to your main subject. I selected the bird in a separate layer, and used Shadows/Highlights only on the bird layer and sharpened a little. (I only sharpened the second one).

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[delboy]

Hi Jim,

Yes I like that, with the other birds included I feel there is more action in the photograph, with also good composition (I really don't know if composition is an issue when doing bird photography) Would be interested in what other members think.

Good work Jim

Regards

Delboy.

[jimboudreaux]

What if I use #3, but move the bird at upper left out of the corner a bit... like this

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[Kaye]

What if I use #3, but move the bird at upper left out of the corner a bit... like this

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Jim, I do prefer the bird moved in from the corner, but I also do not mind the shot without the top bird, as your main focus seems to be on the bird on the right.
Did you see the edits I did above?
I do think that composition makes a difference with birds in flight, and your subject bird is nicely placed.

[jimboudreaux]

Thanks Kaye, I did see the edit you did. I like it that way too, but I can't decide which one actually looks better. I like all three birds in the shot, but I see what you mean about the focus being on the one bird. Keeping the third bird almost shifts the focus to the group instead of the one. I like the diagonal composition created by the third bird though. Arghhh, I guess I'm just going to have to make a decision lol.

[Kaye]

Jim, if you want to keep the 3 birds, perhaps you could make the top one a bit smaller which may give the effect of him being further away. You could even blur this one a little, then sharpen your main bird on the right.
In my edit above with the 2 birds, I used Shadows/Highlights and also Sharpen to bring out the detail in his wings. Good luck.

[jimboudreaux]

I might try that, thanks Kaye

[mrdoug]

Wow... not bad. The Minnesotans call them "sky-carp" due to the droppings they leave all over the cities, and being they're
protected by law... they're a menus. However, you've captured some pretty cool images of the gang. Great images!