Nature scenes, a duck, and a goose

[dwaugh]

I took a big day yesterday and went camera crazy, and I'll start with these photos which fit into the nature category. I think they turned out well, although someone else here can always point out things that I dont notice at first look. On the second and third photos (by the way, that's an old trestle in the distance, through the trees), I can't decide which is better (although I think I like the horizontal shot the most)... let me know what you think... Shots were taking with my Nikkor 28-80mm (the first shot) and my Sigma 70-300mm (the rest of them).





(EDIT: #3 removed - vertical pond shot)

(EDIT: #4 removed - the goose)

[Copy_Kot]

I really like the first two. The third image is tilted to the right and there is too much water in the foreground that is uninteresting. The ripples in the water ruined what might have been a nice reflection of the tree's and sky.

The fourth image is hard to judge because there are just so many Canada geese around here. For me it would be like critiquing an image of a pigeon, which wouldn't be very fair to you.

We also have a lot of mallards, but I can say that I like the fifth image. It is well composed and the reflections in the water are very nice.

[swmdrayfan]

The horizontal with the trestle in the trees works the best between the two of them, and I noticed that the goose is a little blurred. That mallard shot is very nice indeed.

[Tyson L. Sparks]

First and last are the best, the other are not keepers. Don't waist hard drive space on the center pictures.

[Hickeroar]

First and Last are my favorite. I really like them.

I'll continue the "nay" for the 3rd image. 2nd and 4th are both nice, but seem sort of ordinary. The 2nd has a feeling of "mildly overexposed" and I think the 4th could have benefited from being pulled back a bit so you can see more of the goose.

The first really captures the motion of the stream and the whole scene being in focus instead of a specific DOF looks really nice in this instance.

I love the clarity of the last image. Big thumbs up from me. Looks like a calendar pic.

[dwaugh]

I agree on the third one, it's just not as good now that I've been able to look at it for a while. The goose does look a bit blurred, so that's not good. Oh well, it was just something I tried. The second isnt really a center picture, and is more of a picture of the entire landscape in the way I look at it. I wasnt focusing on the trestle; it just ended up where it did in the photo from where it is.
Personally, I like the last one best too just from how it turned out.
I also like the first a lot, but I'm also pretty good at shots like that, so for me it's nothing new, although I love it every time a shot like that turns out right.
Thanks for words.