Black Swan just after lift-off

[Ian Wilson]

Another black bird... well, mostly black. Found throughout Australia except for the arid interior. These birds are so common in my area that one rarely bothers to take a shot.

Canon 5DIII + 600 mm f/4L II + 1.4x III extender, hand-held.
Manual, f/8, 1/4000 sec, ISO 640.
Processed with DPP4 and PS Elements.

[Randy Stout]

Ian:

Certainly fits the theme! We have a captive pair at the local bird sanctuary, and the male is one of the most territorial and cranky fellows that I have run into. Always hissing at me! I love trying to capture the texture of their feathers.

I have rarely seen images of them in flight, so appreciate yours. Speaking from experience, black and white birds with red bits, can be a real challenge to expose properly, and overall, I think you did very well here with the light you had.

I might try to tease a bit more out of the blacks if possible.

Thanks

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Seems every region has very common birds that most all but ignore...I'm a fan of them all!:S3: Like Randy I have not seen many images of this species in flight, very nice. The exposure control, sharpness, composition are all top notch.

[Diane Miller]

Very nice! Love the out-of-the-ordinary shot. Nice detail and sharpness.

[William Dickson]

Very nice Ian. The red bill and eye are complimenting the blacks well. I wished we had the bright weather you are getting just now :S3: Thanks for sharing

[Grace Scalzo]

Super job on the exposure, flight angle is perfect. Love it!

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks everyone for taking the trouble to comment on this image. A number of people remarked that flight shots of this species were a bit unusual. That agrees with my experience, for example, on the BirdLife Australia gallery, there are only 2 Black Swan flight shots out of a total of 58. It is not as if the birds rarely fly, we often see them in flight. Regards, Ian

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the black swan,nice details and sharp just wish both wings were fully raised

TFS

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent flight shot. Everything has been said about this spectacular image. Love it.

Regards,
Satish.