{"id":55564,"date":"2019-01-06T06:31:01","date_gmt":"2019-01-06T13:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55564"},"modified":"2025-09-14T05:32:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T10:32:52","slug":"photographing-a-common-goldeneye-drake-while-breaking-some-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/01\/06\/photographing-a-common-goldeneye-drake-while-breaking-some-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographing A Common Goldeneye Drake While Breaking Some Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DivingDiving Common Goldeneye drake – Splashing water – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/3200, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This diving Common Goldeneye drake photo is appealing to my eyes though it might not be for other people because it doesn’t show the eye of the drake at all and eye contact in bird and wildlife photography is important.<\/p>\n

This photo kind of breaks the “rules” of bird and wildlife but I am okay with that because for me the curtain of splashing water fanned out behind the duck’s tail is what draws me into the image along with the splashing water in front of the duck’s back.<\/p>\n

I guess this could be considered a behavioral photo of the diving duck… or of the water and how the duck’s movement causes it to behave.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Common Goldeneye head on – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2000, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Typically I also don’t like to center my subjects in the frame either because that also kind of breaks the “rules” of composition.<\/p>\n

Yet when I have a bird looking head on at me in the frame like this drake Common Goldeneye it practically begs to be centered and photos of birds and animals looking head on towards the viewer seem to have more impact visually when they are.<\/p>\n

I played with this photo in post processing by having the duck more to the left and more to the right and neither had as much visual impact on me as it did when the drake Common Goldeneye was centered.<\/p>\n

By sharing these photos today my intention is to show that there are times when photographic rules can be broken because the appeal of images or the lack of appeal is all about the individual tastes of the photographer taking the photos and those of the people that view them.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Common Goldeneye photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By sharing these photos today my intention is to show that there are times when photographic rules can be broken because the appeal of images or the lack of appeal is all about the individual tastes of the photographer taking the photos and those of the people that view them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,962,709,26],"tags":[4004,4053,4238,4520,4159,4753,4483,1129,126,7755,5023,4062,8301,6927,8300,1984,2688,6285,8018,3996,373],"class_list":["post-55564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-goldeneyes","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-bucephala-clangula","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-diving","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-eye-contact","tag-head-on","tag-male","tag-photograph","tag-photographic-rules","tag-photographing","tag-pond","tag-splashing","tag-tail","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-head-on-mia-mcpherson-3567.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-esc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55274,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/12\/first-winter-common-goldeneye-drake-mid-dive-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":55564,"position":0},"title":"First Winter Common Goldeneye Drake Mid-dive In Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I like this image because I was able to capture the eye of this diving first winter drake Common Goldeneye just as it is about to go below the surface of the pond but I also like what is going on with the water in this frame too.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"First winter Common Goldeneye drake mid-dive, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-first-winter-male-mia-mcpherson-0493.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-first-winter-male-mia-mcpherson-0493.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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flapping his wings, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-male-flapping-mia-mcpherson-3991.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-male-flapping-mia-mcpherson-3991.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-male-flapping-mia-mcpherson-3991.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-male-flapping-mia-mcpherson-3991.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61846,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/02\/why-do-these-drake-common-goldeneyes-look-different\/","url_meta":{"origin":55564,"position":2},"title":"Why Do These Drake Common Goldeneyes Look Different?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Both of these drake Common Goldeneyes were photographed on January 7, 2018, but they don't look quite the same.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult drake Common Goldeneye side view, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-goldeneye-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-3509.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-goldeneye-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-3509.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-goldeneye-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-3509.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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McPherson","date":"November 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The drake Common Goldeneyes didn't have any physical contact that I could see because that often happens under the water but the drake in the back seemed intent on making the one in the front leave the area.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Common Goldeneye being chased, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-fight-mia-mcpherson-4114.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-fight-mia-mcpherson-4114.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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