Swan Fantasia

Nikon D300; Sigma 300-800 mm f/5.6 @ 800 mm; ISO 1000, f/6.3, 1/1600 sec.

A couple of days ago I set up my camera on the edge of my property overlooking Fairlee Creek in Maryland. Each winter I am privileged to host dozens of tundra swans and a few trumpeter swans that overwinter on my creek. My objective was to photograph some of the swans, which usually just paddle around the creek uneventfully. But occasionally, the swans get together for some really frenzied action. That happened very near the shore, partially obscured by some tall reeds at the water's edge. The image I've posted shows this action.

The image is unusual in that the reeds made ghost-like images in some of the photographs. More importantly, the violent spray of water raised by the swans caught the early evening sunlight and caused my camera metering system to make parts of the swans and the background water relatively quite dark. While I could adjust those elements somewhat in Photoshop, I've decided not to because I think that the high contrast emphasizes the action and creates a more artistic image. I've also made no effort to deal with noise in the image, for the same reason.

What do you think about this image? Can you suggest a way to make it better?

Norm Dulak

i agree with everything you said. only thing i might do is crop off the top to really accentuate the action.

Norm, I think this is a very unique looking image-I like the colors ,the action captured and the lighting very much. The only thing is the composition -I wish there were more space on the left. I wouldn't take too much off the top as I find it very interesting. I would try to make the eyes all pop just a bit,I hope that helps-but I must say this is a true winner in my book!!!

Hi Norm,
I like the action captured here...water flying every where...:eek::D For my personal taste, I would just take off 1/4 from the top, to eliminate some of the negative space and concentrate more on the action at hand...good show...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

Norm, what a special image! You caught a wonderful moment of action and the tones and colors really set it off beautifully.

I agree about cropping from the top - I'd suggest half of the distance between the top swan's head and the blue sky edge of the frame. My only other suggestion would be to try to aleviate some of the blurrier water parts in the sky - not sure if it would be worth cloning them out or not but they do make me think you had a wet lens and I hate to think about the camera when looking at an image. That said...I love this. I think it's very special and you had a wonderful idea!

Thanks to everyone for viewing my image and for offering your comments! I may yield to the consensus and take a bit off the top of the image. I left it as it was to emphasize the fact that these really large swans could throw water spray so far above their heads, but it perhaps does detract a bit from the action.

Incidentally, the background above the birds is creek water, not sky, and I was at least 75 feet from the action.

Norm Dulak