-cruising mute swan

[Bob Smith]

Wild mute swans often hang around my punt shack in Canoe Pass on the S. arm of the Fraser R.. This one showed up just before sunset and cruised back and forth for 1/2 hr. until the sun was down. I'm not sure of the significance of this posture, combined with surging strokes of both feet, but it would do it whenever I walked along the float closer to it so I assume it was defensive, or perhaps a warning-to-stay-away type of behaviour.
5D MIII, 70-300 4.0-5.6@236mm,ISO320,f8.1/1250,manual.

[Randy Stout]

Bob:

The bow wake really gives a sense of the motion and power of his strokes. Interesting pose with wings up and neck tucked in.

Wish the tail wasn't clipped. Overall a bit tight in the frame, and a slightly looser crop might work better (if you aren't already full frame.)

A few areas of whites are a bit overexposed, if not numerically, simply because of no visible detail.

I think his behaviour was turf protection. They are certainly cantankerous enough to do so.

Cheers

Randy

[Bob Smith]

Thanks for the input Randy. The next exposure had the tip of the tail intact so I used that one in my attempt to rework the problems with the whites. In doing so I was able to salvage a bit of texture and glint in the black beak knob. There was a very fine line between getting that detail and starting to blow the whites--I hope I've improved the image a tad with this 2nd try.

[Ian Wilson]

Repost much better Bob. I think you have done a good job with the detail in the whites. Lifting the brightness of the water has reduced the unreal dark blue sky reflection and made the image much more agreeable to my eye. Well done, regards, Ian.

[gail bisson]

Repost is definitely an improvement. So glad you had the tip of the tail included.
I really like the pose.
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Bob:

Def. better all around. Still pretty large in the frame, but this one def. works better.

I have had a little experience shooting black and white birds (loons) so understand the challenge of balancing the exposure.

Cheers

Randy

[Bill Dix]

Good pose, and the repost is definitely better, with good control of the whites. Wish for a little more room, especially in front.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, bow wave and repost looks much better. Nice image Bob.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Bob the repost is better, I wonder what it would look like if you raised the colour temperature a little?

[Bob Smith]

Thank you all for your comments.It is most encouraging to get such helpful advice. Jonathon I did raise the temperature 225 pts. from the original ( from 4972 to 5196 )and doing so to a slightly greater degree i thought overemphasized those bits of the whites that are still pushing into overexposure. Pushed far enough however ( to about 7300) it does add to the overall scene a nice yellow sunset glow and I think would be a reasonable choice if that was ones objective with the image and I have certainly seen that occur naturally down there.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Wish you had more room in front and behind. The repost looks really good colour temperature wise to me.
I love the behaviour you managed to get in this image.
TFS

[Bob Smith]

Thanks Akos. I do see now that I was in too tight on this fellow and I can't think of a good reason for it as I had room on the 70-300 zoom to back out a bit ( the setting on the lens was 236mm ).