Fall Flapper - Tundra swan with autumn colors

[Randy Stout]

This tundra swan was imaged this AM at the local bird sanctuary. These are free birds, and fairly uncommon, so always thrilled to capture one. I thought the yellow of the bill went well with the water colors.

It was a fairly dark morning, with only a few minutes of sun. For this image, the far shore was lit up, casting the nice yellows into the water. The bird wasn't in the direct light, but I was able to expose it properly without blowing out the highlights in the water.


D4 500 AFS f/4 1/1250s, ISO 2000 , hand held.

Post: Moderate crop for comp, selective sharpening, toned down the upper background a bit.

Advice and comments always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[Karl Egressy]

Great for-and background and nice landing pose with excellent feather details, Randy. It might need a tiny bit of CW rotation.

[Mike Milicia]

Great pose and wonderful color! Might tone down the water and BG a bit more and looks like it needs a bit of CCW rotation to me.

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot. I really like the pose, excellent wing position, exposed very well, wonderful background, and great comp.
Well done.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice exp on the whites and the wing position. BG looks a bit bright on my screen would tone it down more

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Randy, excellent exposure as the detail and plumage shows up nicely. Well timed to show the wings, and I do like the colour of the water. I feel your rotation is spot on.

[gail bisson]

Hi Randy,
Love the yellows and how the beak matches the BG.
Whites look great and very nice pose.
I would decrease the brightness a bit in the BG. It would allow the bird to pop a bit more.
Lovely shot,
Gail

[Marina Scarr]

Your swan is perfectly exposed, Randy, and I love seeing all those details and the pose. That said, the BG seems to be overpowering your subject here, and I really feel needs some toning down to my eyes. Horizon looks good.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone for the input. I agree that the BG is very bright, even though I had already toned it down. It was one of those unique lighting conditions when taken. I have done a quick tone down.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers

Randy

[Craig Kerr]

Like the pose and the exposure is superb, those whites feathers stand out beautifully on the strong BG.
I like the repost, good improvement

[Shawn Zierman]

Beautiful swan pose....cool species too, I can never get this close to them in Minnesota. This one sure has a lot of yellow on the bill, it's a nice feature.
The repost looks better from a tonal perspective.

[Randy Stout]

This one sure has a lot of yellow on the bill, it's a nice feature.
The repost looks better from a tonal perspective.

Shawn: This one had so much yellow on the bill that at first I thought it might be a whooper, which we get here rarely, but in detailed pictures up close, I am pretty confident it isn't. The front of the yellow patch is pretty blunt, not tapered like the whooper shows, and their is no yellow around the eye at all.

The real interesting one is when a tundra interbreeds with a trumpeter, you get some very interesting variations of bill color, which I have seen at this site.

Cheers

Randy

[Munish Kaushik]

Lovely colors & the beautiful wingspan. the latest version looks just perfect to my eyes.

Regards,
Munish Kaushik

[Nico Steenberg]

Randy, the subject is razore sharp and the exposure is nailed. I like the comp and pose. A super shot !

[Randy Stout]

Well, I have some new information on this fellow. Because of my doubt about the ID, I sent a copy to the bird sanctuary. They told me it is in fact a Trooper Swan, which is a cross between a trumpeter and a whooper swan. That would explain the greater size compared to a tundra, but the lesser yellow on the bill than a whooper.

I wish those darn birds would not mess around like that

Cheers

Randy

[Karen Forderer]

Great exposure on the swan. I like the background on the repost best. Very interesting bird info.

[Troy Lim]

Great pose and wonderful color! Might tone down the water and BG a bit more and looks like it needs a bit of CCW rotation to me.

Agree with Mike here. Toning down just a tad would help a lot.

[Satish Ranadive]

Very very sweet image.Love it.

Regards,
Satish.

[gail bisson]

Repost looks good! Interesting info about the "Trooper",
Gail

[Frank Schauf]

Nice composition and excellent expsoure control and sharpness, Randy.