Egyptian Goose Family II

Egyptian Goose Family II

In this photo we have a proud Egyptian Goose mother with eight of her goslings, curiously looking in the same direction (I believe there was a couple there eating something of interest). The light is coming from the right-back side, so the geese are illuminated with a halo.

What do I like about this photo? The subjects are immensely cute. The pose is wonderful, and the composition makes the photo very interesting. The lighting is good, illuminating them with a glowing halo. I used an open aperture (f/4.3, the most open my lens supports at the focal length of 120mm that I used) to create a shallow depth of field, so the geese are sharp but the background is blurred out. This makes the subjects stand out from the photo. I used a low angle of view to make the photo more dramatic, showing an angle of the geese we do not normally get to see.

What would I want to improve? A shallower depth of field might have been useful to create even more of a separation between the subjects and the background, although this would have to be balanced against not all the subjects being the same distance. A greener background with no grey area would have been better for this photo, as well.