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Handsome Nuisance


Handsome Nuisance
Photo Information
Copyright: Silke Force (Silke) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 727 W: 98 N: 1694] (5406)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-07-11
Categories: Birds
Camera: Nikon D70S, Sigma 18-200 mm (F3.5-6.3), Sigma UV 62 mm
Exposure: f/11, 1/250 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-08-14 5:58
Viewed: 564
Points: 35
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
This is not the first Canada Goose portrait on this site, nor is it likely to be the last, since the Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) has a range that covers North America, western Europe, the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Siberia, eastern China, and Japan.

Some cool facts:
• The giant Canada goose subspecies, B. canadensis maxima, formerly bred from central Manitoba to Kentucky. It was nearly driven extinct in the early 1900s. Programs to reestablish the subspecies to its original range were tremendously successful, and in fact, in some places were too successful. The numerous introductions and translocations created a number of resident populations, and the geese have become a nuisance in many urban and suburban areas.
• The social nature of the birds can be greatly credited for the urban goose phenomenon. When one family of geese discovers that the city life is a good deal, they will remember and return the following year along with their youngsters and any flockmates they travel with.
• At least 11 subspecies of Canada Goose have been recognized, although only a couple are distinctive. In general, the geese get smaller as you move northward, and darker as you go westward. The four smallest forms are now considered a different species: the Cackling Goose.
• Some migratory populations of the Canada Goose are not going as far south in the winter as they used to. This northward range shift has been attributed to changes in farm practises that makes waste grain more available in fall and winter, as well as changes in hunting pressure and changes in weather.
• Individual Canada Geese from most populations make annual northward migrations after breeding. Nonbreeding geese, or those that lost nests early in the breeding season, may move anywhere from several kilometres to more than 1500 km northward. There they take advantage of vegetation in an earlier state of growth to fuel their molt. Even members of "resident" populations, which do not migrate southward in winter, will move north in late summer to molt.
Sources: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Canada_Goose.html and http://www.gpnc.org/canada.htm

Tech: shot in Raw, converted to jpg with minimal cropping (I spent 30 minutes moving slowly toward the birds, clicking the shutter at regular intervals so they'd get used to me), resized, sharpened routinely for posting

Thanks for looking and have a wonderful day.
jmirah, JoseMiguel, angybone, PaulH, vanderschelden, gracious, marhowie, pablominto, pierrefonds, nglen, Argus, shabsslg has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To pablominto: National Bird?Silke 1 08-14 13:53
To ben4321: only slight croppingSilke 1 08-14 10:45
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Critiques [Translate]

HI Silke,
Good to see this portrait of the canada goose.
You caught it with good lighting, thus very clear and illustrative details on the head and its plumage.
I like the two tones seen on the background.
Well done and thanks for share it.
My best regards,
JM

hi silke,
nice portrait of the canada goose, nice composition, sharp image with good details, good eye contact,
tfs & regards
pankaj

Wonderful portrait...portrait is the right word for this. It looks like this beauty was posing for you. Great! :)

  • Great 
  • joey Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2001 W: 226 N: 6845] (24727)
  • [2007-08-14 7:41]

Hi Silke,
a great shot.
Sharp and detailed.
Well done,
Joe

  • Great 
  • PaulH Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1110 W: 23 N: 3656] (13083)
  • [2007-08-14 7:46]

Hi Silke
a great close up portrait, perfect DOF and super detail in the feathers. Very well done.
Paul

  • Great 
  • jaycee Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2493 W: 11 N: 6885] (21912)
  • [2007-08-14 7:57]

Hi Silke,

Wonderful portrait of this goose who really is handsome. The colors of his plummage are splendid and the black face is excellent. Nice catchlight in his eye.

Jane

Hello Silke,
Lovely and vivid colors, great POV
and composition, superb sharpness

Everton.

Hello Silke,
Good sharpness, DOF and details.
Maybe cropping a bit; there's a lot of space between the head and the upper edge of the frame..
TFS
Annick

Not sure about the framing here Silke - I think having more space in front of the goose's head than behind would have worked better. It also looks like you cropped in quite heavily, which has resulted in a slight loss of quality. Not enough to worry about too much though.
It looks to me like you've sharpened the whole image instead of just the goose. The blurred background is supposed to be blurred, so there's really no need to sharpen it. It took me quite a while to discover, but you'll find that if you avoid sharpening defocused areas of an image, these areas will look a lot smoother and more attractive.
The goose itself is well photographed, and I quite like the close-up view you've given us, instead of the more obvious shot of the whole bird.
It's good to see so many familiar faces here!

Cheers,
Ben

Hello Silke,
Good close up of this beautiful goose!
perfect sharpness on exposure and focus!
very true colour and details
well done and thanks for sharing also the useful notes
cheers
Tony

Hello Silke,
I think the exposure/color is about perfect. Sharpness and detail is excellent also.
In this type of closeup portrait, I would've opened up the aperture for more of a blurred BG effect. As a general rule, you should have more space in front of the animal for it to look into, than you have here.. This comp gives a feeling of being cramped, with dead space behind.
He's still handsome ;)
Howard

Hello Silke,
Good story of the Canada goose, text and image wise! National bird?
Well they are getting numerous here too, farmers don't like them very much because they visit in such large numbers...
This fellow is well captured, with fine details in the plumage, beautiful bird!
Greetings,
Pablo -

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2731 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2007-08-14 18:48]

Hello Silke

A very informative post about our friends the Canada goose.I realize they are a nuisance,and here along the St.Lawrence River they are in large abundance,but I still really like them.Your portrait reveals a very handsome goose,with lovely plumage detail.The eye contact is excellent with nice catch light.TFS

Rob

Hi Silke,
Great portrait photo with outstanding detail and color that stands out well against the BBG. Excellent exposure.

TFS
Jim

Hi Silke,

A good POV of the head of the canadian goose, the photo has agood composition, sharpness and nice colors. Thanks for sharing.

Pierre

  • Great 
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2908 W: 34 N: 8625] (32146)
  • [2007-08-15 11:52]

Hi Silke. You have captured the Canada so well. you have named the posting just right. Excellent detail and sharp focusing showing us the detail in the feathers. good eye with the light.a nice POv/DOF. very well done TFS.
Nick..

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3816 W: 190 N: 11348] (34987)
  • [2007-08-16 8:15]

Hello Silke,
Very fine close-up portrait of a Canada Goose. Seeing this reminded me that I have a recent shot of this species that I shall post soon. It is not as sharp and detailed as this one but I shall extend your point about their nuisance value here in Sweden.
Thanks for sharing this,
Ivan

  • Great 
  • jossim Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1575 W: 5 N: 2181] (12250)
  • [2007-08-24 3:24]

Beau portrait de cette bernache,bravo pour les détails et les belles couleurs justes.
Merci!
Joseph

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