How to Photograph Geese (Tutorial)
Have you ever seen or photographed a goose?
For many of us, whether we live in cities or the countryside, wild geese are a common sight, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.
In the last several years, I have spent countless hours studying and photographing different geese species near me. Through a long process of trial and error, I learned a lot about how to photograph geese.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn valuable skills and techniques to help you take your photographs of geese to the next level. This article will cover everything you need to know in the following sections:
What are geese?
Respect the birds
Learn about geese behaviour
Where to photograph geese
How to approach geese
What camera gear do you need to photograph geese?
What camera settings do you need?
What are geese?
Canada goose | Nikon D4 + 300 mm f/2.8 VR II + 1.4x TC | ISO 450, 1/100, f/5.6 @ 420mm
A goose is one of several waterfowl species in the duck, goose, and swan family, Anatidae. In general, geese are in between the size of ducks and swans.
For the most part, geese belong to one of two genera (plural of genus):
Anser, which includes the grey and white geese, like greylag and snow geese
Branta, which includes black geese, like Canada and barnacle geese
However, other birds outside these two groups have “goose” in their names, like the Egyptian goose, which is closely related to shelducks.
Respect the birds
Egyptian goose | Nikon D500 + 300 PF + 1.4x TC | ISO 640, 1/1000, f/5.6 @ 420mm
As with any genre of wildlife photography, the animal’s well-being must be the main priority.
Maintaining a respectful distance between the geese and yourself is critical, so avoid chasing or cornering the bird to avoid unnecessary disturbance. Disturbing a goose can scare it off, prevent it from feeding, cause it to abandon its young, or worse. It is common to hear geese attacking people who get too close!
As always, photographing a bird that is ignoring you and behaving naturally is much better than shooting a goose constantly worried about your presence or trying to escape from you.
Learn about geese behaviour
Observe your subject’s behaviour
Asking yourself several questions in the field can help you learn about goose behaviour to get the best photo opportunities. For example:
Where do geese like to feed?
Where do geese roost?
When do geese fly?
When do geese flap their wings?
These questions (and many more) are a first step towards helping you identify and predict upcoming shots. Once in the field, simply observing your geese will increase your chances of getting incredible photos of these aquatic birds.
It’s important to remember that the first few times you are around new subjects, you may not get any photos that stand out to you. However, you will acquire invaluable experience from watching and learning about the geese's behaviour.
Note: As mentioned in a previous tutorial on great blue herons, scouting a location and watching your subject without a camera can be great for this kind of learning (although you usually have to fight yourself to resist bringing a camera haha).
Do your research ahead of time
Besides scouting and observing subject behaviour, much of your preparation can happen before leaving your house. Using the internet to find helpful information can help you find and photograph geese.
Using the internet, you can learn about a goose’s life cycle, where different species are throughout the year, find photography guides like the one you’re reading right now, and much more!
When researching a new subject, I follow three simple steps before going out into the field:
Check eBird to see the latest sightings (if it’s a bird)
Learn about the subject’s behaviour using eBird, All About Birds, Wikipedia, or other similar pages
Search for photography tutorials or content on YouTube and reliable platforms, such as Nature TTL
These three easy actions can make an enormous difference the next time you head to the field to photograph a goose.
If you want a better understanding of how much you can expect to spend during a trip, the website Budget Your Trip does just that. It even gives you an average daily cost for different cities, depending on whether you want to travel on a cheap, mid-range, or high-end budget. Check out this example for Madrid, Spain.
Where to photograph geese
Like great blue herons, photographing geese is excellent because they are common and easy to find. In addition, some species are resident, meaning they don’t migrate, so you can photograph them all year long! For example, near my home in Oxford, I know I can shoot greylag geese anytime in the rivers and fields they graze in.
Where do geese live?
Geese inhabit areas with easy access to water lots of grass for grazing. These include ponds, lakes, marshes and fields, and urban areas such as city parks, schools and golf courses. The water provides safety from most predators, and grass is one of their preferred meals.
Many species of geese migrate depending on where they live. For example, Canada geese from most of Canada and the northern United States head down to the southern states and even Mexico. In Europe, the pink-footed goose breeds in Greenland, Iceland and Norway’s Svalbard archipelago but migrates to northwest Europe, including the United Kingdom, during the winter.
Despite plenty of geese undertaking arduous journeys to warmer climates, some are residents, meaning they do not migrate if they live in an environment without extreme temperature shifts. This is the case of greylag geese in the British Isles and Canada geese in British Columbia.
Urban vs rural
In most urban areas, it is easy to approach geese, since they live close to humans and do not fear them as much. It’s possible to use less than 100mm in focal length to photograph them.
Urban geese are usually more comfortable around people, which can be an excellent opportunity to get some shots that would be impossible in the countryside.
In rural areas where geese don’t see people regularly, you will have to work on your approach much more to come away with great photos. Unfortunately, walking up to your subjects won’t work, so you’ll have to wait more and likely conceal yourself.
Although your keeper rate will plummet, or you will struggle to even take photos without spooking your subjects, photographing rural geese provides unique opportunities with different backgrounds and behaviour than in towns or cities.
How to approach geese for wildlife photography
Canada goose gosling | Nikon D4 + 300 mm f/2.8 VR II + 1.4x TC | ISO 180, 1/1000, f/4 @ 420mm
Thankfully, the way to approach geese is similar to other groups of birds, especially ducks and swans. Therefore, many of the same rules apply. However, how you approach an animal depends on several factors, like:
Species
Tolerance of humans
Whether they are urban or rural
Your approach may even vary from one individual goose to another!
The tips below provide a comprehensive list of things to consider to approach geese for wildlife photography. That said, you may not have to use all these tips in every situation. Make sure to select what applies to each situation.
Hide yourself
In wildlife photography, hiding your human shape gives you a significant advantage when it comes to remaining undetected or appearing less threatening.
I tend to employ a few techniques when photographing geese, such as wearing similar colours to my environment or camouflage or using trees, vegetation or rocks from my surroundings to conceal myself.
There are many other ways to keep out of sight, be creative to get the best photos you can!
Stay low
If you stay low, you can hide your human shape better. I also notice that if I am standing up, geese tend to be more nervous than if I’m lying down, even if they are aware of my presence.
By getting on the ground, geese are less likely to see you, and it’s a great way to have a low perspective and blurrier backgrounds with great bokeh!
Don’t walk quickly or directly towards your subject
To get closer to geese when you’ve spotted them, follow two golden rules:
Don’t walk quickly to approach
Don’t walk directly toward your subject
Following these rules reduces the sound you make, puts your subjects at ease, and can help you get closer to your geese.
But how do you get to geese ahead of you?
Walk in S shapes towards the birds and avoid eye contact. If the individual or group of geese you are targeting are walking or swimming, you can also aim to take a wide berth to get ahead of them, so now they are coming towards you rather than having to chase them.
Thankfully, the way to approach geese is similar to other groups of birds, especially ducks and swans. Therefore, many of the same rules apply. However, how you approach an animal depends on several factors, like:
Species
Tolerance of humans
Whether they are urban or rural
Your approach may even vary from one individual goose to another!
The tips below provide a comprehensive list of things to consider to approach geese for wildlife photography. That said, you may not have to use all these tips in every situation. Make sure to select what applies to each situation.
Hide yourself
In wildlife photography, hiding your human shape gives you a significant advantage when it comes to remaining undetected or appearing less threatening.
I tend to employ a few techniques when photographing geese, such as wearing similar colours to my environment or camouflage or using trees, vegetation or rocks from my surroundings to conceal myself.
There are many other ways to keep out of sight, be creative to get the best photos you can!
Stay low
If you stay low, you can hide your human shape better. I also notice that if I am standing up, geese tend to be more nervous than if I’m lying down, even if they are aware of my presence.
By getting on the ground, geese are less likely to see you, and it’s a great way to have a low perspective and blurrier backgrounds with great bokeh!
Don’t walk quickly or directly towards your subject
To get closer to geese when you’ve spotted them, follow two golden rules:
Don’t walk quickly to approach
Don’t walk directly toward your subject
Following these rules reduces the sound you make, puts your subjects at ease, and can help you get closer to your geese.
But how do you get to geese ahead of you?
Walk in S shapes towards the birds and avoid eye contact. If the individual or group of geese you are targeting are walking or swimming, you can also aim to take a wide berth to get ahead of them, so now they are coming towards you rather than having to chase them.
What camera gear do you need to photograph geese?
Canada goose | Nikon D7100 + 300mm f/4 AF-S | ISO 1800, 1/1000, f/4
Camera
Like other large birds, geese tend to be relatively slow unless they are in flight, making it more accessible for you to photograph them with almost any camera. This is excellent news if you are a wildlife photographer on a budget who aims to save money.
Especially with cooperative geese, you won’t need much of the functionalities of new cameras, like animal eye autofocus or ridiculously high frame rates.
Although my Nikon D500 is my main body with great autofocus and speed for a DSLR, I have photographed several species of geese with inferior bodies, including a Nikon D7100 and my trusty Nikon D700, which launched in 2008. In fact, I used the D7100 to take the photo you see above.
The crucial thing to remember is that you can photograph geese or other species with any modern camera. Newer cameras and lenses make it easier to take photos due to technological advances, but they don’t make you a better photographer. That’s why there are many excellent ways to score awesome gear without breaking the bank.
Read more: Why the Nikon D500 is one of the BEST Cameras for Wildlife Photography in 2022 (Review)
Lens
Where you live and photograph geese will often dictate what lens you require.
If you live in a big city, such as New York, Toronto or London, where geese come right up to you, you will not need much focal length to fill the frame. In these cases, I would be content with a do-it-all zoom in the 70-300 or 100-400 range, like the Nikon 70-300mm, one of the best beginner lenses for wildlife photography.
If I photographed rural geese frequently, I’d prefer to have a minimum of 400mm to give the appropriate reach for less cooperative subjects. In these scenarios, a lens like the Nikon 200-500mm is great, especially if you are on a budget. Getting this much reach and image quality at this low price is very difficult.
Note: Extra focal length or reach is not a substitute for getting close to your subjects. Even if you need 400mm or more to get an acceptable photograph of a goose, you will still have to be within range and close enough to avoid atmospheric or heat distortion ruining your image quality.
Telephoto zooms are great to give you the flexibility to change your focal length in seconds, which is excellent if you’re a beginner wildlife photographer, are photographing a species for the first time, or can’t decide on a single focal length.
That said, I regularly use prime lenses to photograph geese, which gives me the benefit of higher image quality, large apertures, and better background rendering. My favourite relatively affordable option is the Nikon 300 PF, which is super lightweight, making it great for hiking and travel.
What camera settings do you need to photograph geese?
Egyptian goose | Nikon D500 + 300 mm f/2.8 VR II + 1.4x TC | ISO 100, 1/500, f/4 @ 420mm
When photographing geese, your camera settings will vary depending on the following:
The time of day
Your subject’s behaviour
Your photographic intent
Note: Please recognize that the settings mentioned in this section are guidelines and can vary depending on several factors, such as your gear, stability, and photographic intent.
Time of day
Egyptian goose | Nikon D500 + 200-500 mm f/5.6 | ISO 1600, 1/250, f/5.6
Generally speaking, the closer you are toward sunset or sunrise, the lower your shutter speed and the higher your ISO will be due to lack of light. In these cases, shutter speeds slower than 1/250 and wide open aperture are common.
If there is low light, I generally leave the aperture wide open. Still, suppose the sunlight is abundant (i.e., bright cloudy day, close to the end of the morning golden hour, middle of the day, etc.). In that case, I sometimes stop down the lens to counteract atmospheric distortion, to get a sharper shot, or to ensure I get enough depth of field.
I always shoot in Manual mode and Auto ISO, which allows me to focus on adjusting my aperture and shutter speed as needed, and letting the camera determine the ISO.
Goose behaviour
Your subject’s behaviour will also determine your camera settings.
If the goose you are photographing is walking or swimming, I recommend a shutter speed of 1/500 minimum to freeze its movement, although lower speeds are also possible.
If a goose is resting on land, they are generally quite still, so very low shutter speeds are possible, depending on how stable you are. Sometimes you can get away with shutter speeds below 1/100. Your stability can be increased by improving your handholding technique, using a tripod, and turning on your image stabilization or vibration reduction, to name a few.
When a goose flaps its wings or flies, it’s best to crank your shutter speed to at least 1/2000. Don’t make the mistake of thinking 1/1000 is fast enough, or you will end up with an undesired blurry image! This is, of course, perfectly fine if you like this kind of photography.
Photographic intent
What kind of photograph you would like to create will also dictate your settings. You may want a detailed headshot, so you stop down your aperture 1-2 stops to maximize sharpness and depth of field. Or you may want to create a more artistic flight shot using slow shutter speeds to show motion blur. That’s what I did in the photo above of these barnacle geese.
Your photographic intent, or what type of image you want to take, will play a part in choosing the appropriate settings.
Read more: 5 Reasons You Don’t Need to Travel to be a Great Wildlife Photographer
In conclusion
Greylag geese | Nikon D7500 + 300 PF | ISO 1400, 1/250, f/4
Now that you’ve learned how to photograph geese, head to the field to apply these tips! The amazing thing is that many of you will not have to travel to find these remarkable subjects. Remember that every chance you get to photograph wildlife is another opportunity to improve and learn something new.
And if you learn something I didn’t include in this blog, feel free to tell me on Instagram or Twitter.
In the future, I will write other articles full of tips for you to improve your wildlife photography. The best way to stay informed about this is to sign up for the APC Wildlife Photography newsletter and have the latest blogs delivered right to your inbox.
Want to become a better wildlife photographer?
If you are interested in learning more about the technical and artistic side of photography to take your photos to the next level, check out these awesome tutorials that can help you take amazing wildlife photos!