Janice Rosner  


Snow Geese Blast Off by Janice Rosner

May 2019 - Snow Geese Blast Off

May 2019 - Janice Rosner

Original

About the Image(s)

I’m taking a risk here as this isn’t a traditional image but I’m interested to hear how people react to it. My goal for taking this image was to capture the intensity and chaos of a snow geese blast off. This was taken at a wildlife preserve and there were 1000’s of geese. I waited, sometimes for hours, to capture a blast off. I’m also interested in making blurs or more impressionistic images which convey a feeling. Initially, one might think it’s easy to take a blurred image as we all have had “blurry” images. However, to take an effective blur, you have to judge distance to subject, speed of subject, focal length, panning speed (or no panning) and adjust your Dof and shutter speed. There is an element of guessing in that for a bird blur such as this, you don’t always know how fast they will be going, I took several test images as I was waiting and checked my histogram to monitor my exposure (it was the am and the light was changing as the sun came up, so I had to frequently monitor my exposure while waiting for the blast off)

Here is the technical info. Canon 7D Mark ii, f29, 1/20 second, ISO 100, Canon 70-200 lens at 200mm. In ACR I increased the whites and added a touch of vibrance. I thought the original raw image was rather bland and the details of the birds were lost. So, in PS I added a fur and feathers adjustment at a low opacity to help define the structure of the birds. In the raw image, there were some open places where the birds were poorly defined and dark so I did add some bird detail there. I experimented with cropping the bottom but I preferred bringing out the detail of the birds. Finally, it was still rather flat and lacked contrast (a common issue with blurs) so I added a levels adjustment.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
9 comments posted




 
This must be an amazing sight to see this many geese take off at once! I find this a very interesting abstract. I like the blur that allows some of the geese shapes to be identifiable. For my taste the color seems a little muddy. I wonder how it would look in black & white?   Posted: 05/14/2019 09:33:45



 
I actually tried in black and white as I had the same thought. It lost too much of it's definition and the birds were less distinct.   Posted: 05/14/2019 20:15:07



Dr Isaac Vaisman   Dr Isaac Vaisman
(Groups 4 & 15 & 58 & 59 & 72)
Janice, this is a typical blast off the snow geese in Bosque del Apache, New Mexico. Now, there are two types of blurred images: the artistic blur (term invented by Arthur Morris...) where you are supposed to identify something of the subject) and a blurred image where you can not tell what is it, which seems the case in this image. This is an interesting abstract image, left to the imagination of the beholder. I do not think the painterly effect is adding to it.   Posted: 05/15/2019 09:54:56



Pauline Jaffe   Pauline Jaffe
(Group 55)
Janice, from this image I can only image what a blast off of snow geese must look like. Good for you for taking a risk! If you don't take a risk, extraordinary photos etc. don't happen.
When I looked at the photo I wasn't sure what I was looking at until I read your caption. While a blurred image is great, I'd like to be able to identify snow geese. I know if you keep working it, you'll have something great next blast off!   Posted: 05/17/2019 08:48:05
 
Thanks for your input, Pauline. I appreciate your feedback. It was quite useful. I have another snow geese blast off blur and the birds are more defined. I may post it next month.   Posted: 05/17/2019 10:16:46



 
I found it very difficult to focus which what my eyes strain to do. It is a very nice abstract.   Posted: 05/18/2019 20:46:47



Kerry McFarlane
(Group 59)
Janice, abstract is not usually to my taste but I find your image intriguing and would love to actually see a blast off of the geese. I like the colour pallet but I would like to be able to identify at least some of the geese. As I said not really my thing but I have been intrigued enough to have looked at this image a number of times?   Posted: 05/19/2019 06:28:16
 
I appreciate your feedback, Kerry. I have another image of a blast off where some of the geese are identifiable. I may post it in June and see what people think. Thanks for your comments.
  Posted: 05/19/2019 10:45:19



Charlie Yang   Charlie Yang
(Group 45)
Too much a blurred picture to me, since you ask for the viewer's reaction. there's it.

next time, try faster then 1/30-1/50s and pan it, so least you got some birds in focus, then the rest of blur would enhance the mood, just my two cents.   Posted: 05/21/2019 20:44:03