I keep trying to photograph geese and ducks taking off and landing, using a variety of techniques. Normally I will try to catch the birds in flight, though sometimes I have trouble getting my lens to acquire focus quickly enough. I stumbled onto a panning technique when I tried to photograph geese landing in the early morning. This weekend I experimented using both techniques.
I took this first shot when several geese took off without warning almost directly in front of me. I didn’t intend to cut off the goose to the left, but I like the effect of him entering into the frame. In this image, the action is completely frozen.
Geese takeoff
The second image is an example of the panning technique. The geese are not quite in as sharp focus as I would have liked, but you can see some details. I like the way that the background is blurred and provides a sense of motion. This panning was much more deliberate than the photos that I posted previously with motion blur.
Geese liftoff
It’s so much fun experimenting with different techniques—photography is still new enough to me that I often feel like a little kid on a voyage of discovery.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Grampy over at the Goat Sass Farm blog tells me that sometimes he turns image stablization off and boosts the shutter speed for much sharper pictures. I’ve seen them, and they are excellent. I haven’t tried it yet, but I plan to. http://goatsass.com/
Thanks for the tip–I too may have to try that out. (The lens I use most often does have image stabilization built in and I have heard that it’s best to shut it off when using a tripod.)