Tundra Swan migrant

[Dan Busby]

This is pretty much a grab shot. I had just finished a couple of hours of birding around the area and was quite disappointed with the lack of activity. But just as I was heading home I spotted this big bright white blob out on the lake. At first it was out way too far and all the shots suffered from shimmer. But the bird was moving around quite a bit so I stuck with it for a couple of hours. Lots of bad sun angles but finally I found an angle where I got the glint in the eye, the head turn and the shadows were not over powering. What kept me with the bird was the pleasant colours in the water at some angles. This is a very unusual bird for our area.

1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4L IS II +1.4x, ISO:400, f5.6@1/2000, Manual, AI Servo AF, spot metering, hand held. About 85% of original - mainly for crop. Very light sharpening. Brought up the shadows a bit.

All comments welcomed and appreciated.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I rarely like this light angle, but I must say it works well here. Well exposed, nice details, and I like the marble-like eye. I really like the texture of the water in the lower half of the frame. The image may need a touch of CW rotation..perhaps only an illusion.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the low angle, HA and water texture in the FG is interesting. Nice image Dan.

[MohsenVahedipour]

Very nice shooting angle & water texture. You could nicely handle the light angle. TFS

[Grace Scalzo]

You took a nearly impossible light angle and made it work perfectly. Well done and a good find.