Standing at the end of a small pond, I heard the sounds of an approaching flock of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis). I looked all around as I prepared to track them and couldn’t help noticing areas of beautiful autumn foliage.
Wouldn’t it be cool if I could capture the geese landing with the colorful leaves as a background? I put that idea in the back of my mind, remembering that it was going to be tough enough to capture decent shots of the geese without worrying about the background.
It’s a noisy crazy couple of moments when the geese come in for a landing—they come in waves and there is so much activity that it’s hard to figure out what to focus on. Usually, as I did here, I will try to concentrate on a single bird as it approaches and to keep it in focus.
I captured this image at the moment when the geese were slowing down just prior to entry into the water. My main subject is in a pretty good focus and the other geese are in interesting positions. I was surprised that I was able to get the orange background—it had been a hope, but certainly not an expectation. The result is an image that I really like, an image that combines two of the iconic elements of the autumn.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Lovely color! Nice job.
The colors are beautiful. Now if I knew how you get geese to land so close. They see me and off they go.
The only “secret” that I have is that my marshland park has a boardwalk that overlooks a couple of small ponds and I have a pretty clear view of some of the geese and ducks when they land.
That is pretty cool! It’s so great when a plan comes together like that.
You give me a little too much credit to characterize it as a “plan.” It was more like a wish that came true. I’m sure that you have been in situations when you wanted really badly for a subject to move to a different spot or turn its head–and it happened.
Maybe in wildlife photography that is what passes for a plan. You were aware of the surroundings, saw the potential and waited for it to happen. I often will creatures to do my bidding but something seems to get confused in the airwaves by the time it reaches them.
I can’t remember who said it, but the adage that luck favors the well-prepared seems to apply to our style of photography.
Agreed.
awesome picture! especially with all the autumn colors in the background 🙂
Thanks. The colors made it extra special for me.
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