On final approach - calling for landing clearance. Trumpeter swan

One of my goals for 2012 was to do a more hand held BIF. I traditionally have used a Wimberley II and tripod for my birds in flight, but felt that I needed to learn to be more flexible. With this in mind, I took the 500 along rather than the 600, and just did hand held flight shots all morning. My sense was that my initial acquisition was faster handheld, but sometimes the framing when very close in was a bit more of a challenge.

Will keep working on this! I loved the demonstration of aerodynamics as he stalls for landing with the flipped up feathers.

D300 500mm f/4 f/7.1 1/2500s ISO 640 handheld

Post: Selective sharpening, Color Efex pro detail extractor to help tone down a few overly bright whites, cleaned up some debris on ice. Full frame.

Thoughts and advice always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

I think it is saying 'MOOOOVE!!!' I like the ruffled feathers, the dropped feet and the extended neck.

very nice Randy like the expsoure and the calling pose and the blue BG. I like how the feathers on the back have raised due to turbulance in flight, kind of like an air brake. nicely done

Randy,
Always fun to hand hold the big glass. Very nice to have the open beak and gear down, might prefer a different wingbeat but certainly a pleasing image as is. great shooting, Looks like you had some great light for it! Loving that Blue water.

Very Nice BIF photo.
We have a bunch of these in my area right now, they look so gangly and awkward in a fun way.
You captured it very nicely.

Wow, Randy, a real good one. The feel is really like an aircraft approaching landing...!

Randy, really like the contrast here from the blue and white. Excellent exposure with the open beak and feathers making this great. Great Job.

Gary/

Nice shot you have here Randy. Think you hand held that big glass just fine. I like the calling pose you captured.