Resting Canada Goose close up, Salt Lake County, UtahResting Canada Goose close up – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

I really like the intimacy of portrait photos of my subjects, the fine plumage details that might not be as visible taken from further away seem to grab my attention in close ups.

Yesterday while photographing the birds at my local pond this resting Canada Goose caught my eye because of the bright blue water behind it and the great view I had of the eye of the goose while it had its bill tucked under its feathers.

I only took this one image of the goose and now I realize I should have taken more photos of the bird and tried different apertures to obtain more depth of field so I could have had the feathers of its body more sharply in focus but I got distracted by a Lesser Scaup I spotted out on the pond that was swimming towards the shore. I could have waited to photograph the scaup because it was swimming slowly, adjusted my aperture setting and gotten an image of this goose that I would have liked even more than this single photo. I just didn’t think about it at the time and I should have.

Live and learn.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Canada Geese photos plus facts and information about this species.