Some folks complain a lot about Canada Geese, but I enjoy trying to photograph them, especially when they are taking off and landing. It seems like the number of them has dwindled somewhat at my local marsh recently–perhaps some of them have migrated north.
Yesterday, this goose began to sound the alarm as soon as it became aware of my presence and took off a short time later, still crying out with its tongue extended. I managed to track the bird as it was taking off and to shoot a series of shots. The sky was pretty heavily overcast yesterday, so I had raised my ISO to 320 and figured that I would have enough speed to capture the action. What I didn’t realize at the time, though, was that my aperture was still set at f/11, because I had been shooting some landscapes just prior to these shots. I was in aperture priority mode and my camera chose a shutter speed of 1/1oo of a second.
In the first shot, the goose is relatively sharp and there is little motion blur, except for the background, which is blurred, I think, because I was panning as I tracked the goose. In the second shot, though, which preceded the first in time, the wings and the feet have some motion blur, which accentuates the feeling of the goose scrambling to get into the air.
I keep going back and forth in trying to decide which of this two photos I like better. The technical side of my brain wants to vote for the first one, but the artistic side prefers the second image. What do you think?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
I think I like the first one more. The goose doesn’t look quite so gangly and seems more powerful.
I don’t know how many times I have been caught by taking landscapes and then have the wrong settings. I never seem to learn.
The lesson I learn is to refrain from taking landscapes!
Me too.
Yes like the second one
Sweet shor!
Both are interesting, but I like more the first one. I like the sharp head, and that open beak and that soft touching of water with the tip of the wing.
Totally agree with the comment by Cornel A above, for all the same reasons.
I love watching geese ‘run’ on the water to get air-born all while telling the world they’re doing it. Love both shots but leaning towards the second one. Yep, that’s a lot of bird to get in the air!