A species of goose, about 6 of which reside at the community lake..not quite sure what they are except dirty if you have lakefront property....

I like the first shot. I think it would be better without the space behind the head, and it's unfortunate that the tip of the beak is right on the tree.

I think it might work better with a lower perspective as well.

If I had the first one in LR, I'd de-saturate the green spots in the background.

ericgu wrote:
I like the first shot. I think it would be better without the space behind the head, and it's unfortunate that the tip of the beak is right on the tree.

I think it might work better with a lower perspective as well.

If I had the first one in LR, I'd de-saturate the green spots in the background.

Thanks for the suggestions: never noticed the green area until now and it really leaps out, doesn't it?

I was shooting HH and these two are serendipitous, you think I'd know by now I can't HH that lens without blurs! Need to find a monopod.

regards,

Bob

I like the first shot too - it says to me "even ugly birds have dignity". I agree with Eric too - the green has to go.

Bob, are you sure it's a goose? Looks a lot like a muscovy duck to me. If it is a goose I'm curious to know what kind, if anyone knows. I quite like muscovy ducks. Tame birds can have quite interesting and engaging personalities. When happily excited they can wag their tails like puppies. As much as I like them for their personalities, I have to admit they are tasty, too. (As it happens I had muscovy duck breast for dinner night before last. Yummy!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscovy_Duck

AuntiPode,

You are correct - I assumed a goose. They are quite tolerant of humans yet maintain a distance. Four males accompany an all white female but she has no readily apparent Klingon traits.

Otherwise, we have a small number of non-migratory geese. The goose population increases dramatically over the winter - most geese fly in for the day and depart around sunset.

Thanks for the information!

Bob

NumberFive wrote:
I like the first shot too - it says to me "even ugly birds have dignity". I agree with Eric too - the green has to go.


Thanks for looking, I appreciate the comments.

regards,

Bob

interesting if rather foul-looking fowl

First would be better without the green leaf, but everyone has already commented on that. Nice job with the color, saturation.
Nice job with the head angle and the eye looking at you.
Ideally the tree trunk would not overlap with the head.
could use a bit of highlight recovery for some blown out areas lower neck and feathers near the neck
Second has better preservation of the detail in the whites and better separation from the tree. Shooting lower to the ground, better eye contact would improve.
Despite the critique, glad you showed these. Interesting subject!

Scott

Scott,

Thanks for the critique - I think the hilights are blown beyond repair.

This was a personal exercise with the lens, the net result is an order for a monopod, which does not particularly please the wife - I shall redeem myself later this month in Oregon.

regards,

Bob