Probably not every birder's favorite species, and they certainly make a major contribution to the chemistry of the muck at JBWR. Still, its fun to watch their lumbering flight, and they are a lot slower than Kestrels and Kingfishers. Cropped from left for comp, slight rotation, nudged the bird very slightly up to center the head in the light strip, NR and USM.
D7000, 500f4 + 1.4 TC, ISO 500, 1/2000s @ f/7.1 manual, gitzo and mongoose.
Very nice job on moving bird up a bit and a good idea. Nice flight pose and well done on the exposure. I don't mind swan being slightly past you as far wing is shown off very well with the added reflections.
Bill, really love the details and pose of the swan. Like the above mentioned, I would consider making the background a bit more uniform. I gave it a shot. I added a new blank layer and used the brush tool at 7% opacity and 0 hardness to paint over the bg with a color that I picked from the bg (hope that makes sense)
Yes, I feel the head turn mitigates the fact he is slightly past you. Perfect wing-down position. Super exposure, good sharpness. The BG in the repost looks better, but I prefer the contrast in the OP.
I finally got back to this one, and applied Miguel's suggested brush technique along with a little blur on the trees. I appreciate all the helpful comments.