This Greylag Goose was photographed
on the bank of the Itchen Navigation Canal near Swaythling in
Southampton. This is an example of wrong settings, right
results really... the ducks, geese and swans were being fed
bread and seed by the passing public, who were also being
mobbed by hungry seagulls as they dished out their wares. I
managed to capture the Goose just as it was having a shakedown
after bathing - great timing! :)
So, the
shot was actually underexposed resulting in the almost x-ray
like wingtips on the left and the white leading edge of the
other wing. I played with several adjustments to bring up the
colour of the birds beak, which kept bringing up the details
in the parts of the wings which you cannot see above. In the
end I decided I used a gentle S-Curve in order the maintain
the blacks, whilst ensuring the birds face wes pefectly
exposed.
The Itchen
Navigation runs from Riverside Park in Southampton, through
Swaythling, Mansbridge, Eastleigh and finally up to
Winchester. With the exception of the public parks at
Riverside, most of the navigation is managed by Hampshire and
Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. Despite the close public
presence in Southampton, it is possible to see a variety of
ducks and geese and even Kingfishers. If you are specifically
looking for Greylag Geese you will be disappointed more often
than not, so just a couple of miles north of here is Lakeside
Nature Reserve at Eastleigh - it's a big draw for Geese and
Swans, and just yesterday (January 29th 2019) we came across
around 70 - 80 Greylag Geese on one of the small ponds. |
