Happy Holidays to All

I haven't been around much the past two months...work simply hasn't afforded me the time to get out and shoot! I'd like to take the time to thank everyone here for their warm welcome six months ago...the time you've spent offering your critiques, the knowledge you've shared and the insights into the art of photography you've offered. Thank you! I hope as time allows to become more active in the forum and again...I miss you all!

This image was taken a week ago on a shoot with Jay at the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary, a wetland area that borders the Mississippi near Alton, IL. The trumpeter swans migrating through the area are stunning...the RAW file for this image was processed in LR, then brought into CS5 for layers of NIK Tonal Contrast and Detail Extractor, followed by Topaz Simplify to achieve a faux watercolor effect. The image has been cropped to get the composition I wanted; on my dream list for this year is some longer glass!

I hope this finds you wrapped in the peace of the season, surrounded by family and friends...take care, and Happy Holidays to all.

John, this is a beautiful, peaceful scene and well-processed. We've missed you and your work - hope to see more soon:S3:

This IS a peaceful scene! Excellent for the holidays.

Hope to see you some more next year, and even though I am a sporadic visitor myself which is frustrating, best intentions are likewise to have more time.

Lovely peaceful scene, I love these beautiful swans.

Lovely scene, John. I especially enjoy the processing, side light and various poses of the swans. Happy holidays to you and I'm looking forward to more of your images, when you are able. :S3:

Nice capture here John. Nicely framed, I really like the swan on the left. I agree, peaceful feeling about it...........Nice eye.

Thank all you for taking the time to comment; these are really beautiful birds, and we couldn't have had better lighting that morning. It did leave my wanting longer glass! If I had been a bit more patient, this might have been an image of the first bald eagle I saw this season...that one was tough to swallow! Still kicking myself over it.

John, Happy Holidays to you and your family. Glad you are back, you've been missed. I love the light and the varied poses of the swans. Trumpeter Swans are so beautiful and peaceful. Nice job with the filtering, does it need a slight rotation?:S3:

This turned out very nice, John. Beautiful light, like the variety of different poses, and wonderful processing to convey a very gentle & peaceful scene. Pano crop works very well. Nice to see you posting, and hopefully you will able to do more. Happy Holidays to you!

Nicely captured, John. Love the light... Happy Holidays to you too!

Hi John, a little late, but I agree with all that has been said so far. Lovely work.