Trumpeter Swan

[Mike Milicia]

I spent much of the past week preparing and printing images for an exhibit at Mass Audubon's Joppa Flats Education Center in Newburyport, MA.
I ended up using this one as a 20" x 30" piece at the entrance to the exhibit.

Photographed at Seney National Wildlife Refuge on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in June 2010.

EOS-1D Mk IV, 500mm f/4L + 1.4xII, 1/320, f/5.6, ISO 800
Full Frame

[Grace Scalzo]

Mike, I liked this when I first opened it, and I like it more and more as I study it. Has much initial impact mostly from the red on head and beak, but then the fine details such as the water droplets on the breast and the feathers take over and keep me looking. I like the composition of it, even the intersection of the beak and far wing work well (When often they don't). I bet it looks superb as a large print.
Congrats on the exhibit. How was it received?

[Humberto Ramos]

Hi Mike, the detail on the head is stunning, the composition also works for me. If it wash´t a full frame, I would tell you to ad some room on the right so we could the whole chest.

[denise ippolito]

Beautiful image Mike, I love the unconventional composition!

[Mike Milicia]

Thanks, Grace, Humberto, and Denise!

I wish I could say that I set out to make this type of capture but, in reality, I was doing front
end portraits when this guy decided to wing flap out of the blue. Even though I was at 1/320 second
and likely had way too much lens, I instinctively fired a burst and was surprised that a few of them were sharp
despite the slow shutter speed. There were a couple without the chest clipped but this seemed like the best overall
composition of the bunch. At first, the clipping bothered me but then I decided that the tightness and graphic element
of the composition made the clipping ok and maybe even preferable. Of course, it's all very subjective and I'm always
interested to hear what others think.