Canada goose and Duck Decoys

A Canada goose swimming among some duck decoys. I was recently on the St. Clair Flats hoping to get photos of ducks during the spring migration. The mallard decoys were put out to attract flights within camera range. This goose swam over to investigate and never realized I was hidden nearby.

It's a peaceful scene with the calm water and low, morning light. Most important, though, is the clean background. The camera was about two feet above water level but the goose was so close that I was actually aiming slightly downward. Hence, not even the horizon is visible. 400mm lens, 1/1600 second at f/5.6, ISO 320.

Alpine Giant Slalom Skier

An alpine skier rounding a gate on the giant slalom race course. My position was chosen so that the skier would be facing me while racing to the next gate. This allows us to see the extreme body angle and that body angle contributes a strong diagonal line to the composition. Also, the background is relatively clean and the skier stands out nicely. Unfortunately, the sky was heavily overcast so the light was flat, and there was no detail in the snow.

This was shot at 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6, ISO 800, 100-400 lens at 400mm.