Nesting Black Swan

[Glennie Passier]

The birds have eluded me at every attempt. This image of a nesting swan is taken, hand held, from a kayak in a gusty wind. I was very conscience of what she was doing and I was very docile in an effort to capture this beautiful girl.

To me the image looks unbalanced...maybe because of the dome shaped nest of water lily pads or because of the vegetation on the RHS. The focus point just missed her eye and is aimed at her chin. The eye is similar to an oyster catcher, so perhaps looks a little weird. The OOF very FG is waves (on a dam). Not sure whether I should have left more in or taken more out. The BG is Eucalyptus propinqua (see orange, say pink) which is very bright orange at this time of year.

This will end up as one of those files in the "nearly" folder. Just a habitat shot.

In ACR - Exposure increased just a tad. Highlights reduced and shadows moved to the right.
In PSCS6 - Layer adjustment on FG rocks to darken. Layer adjustment in vegetation on RHS to darken. HSL Layers on bird (magenta cast?) and one on BG. Cloned out some vegetation on LHS. Cropped and smart sharpened for web posting

Canon 5D2
Sigma 150-600mm @ 500mm
ISO 640
1/800 @ f6.3
Hand held from moving kayak

C&C Always welcomed and appreciated!

[Ihtisham Kabir]

It is an unusual shot, and one I enjoyed looking at. As to improvements - for me there is too much fg. My eye is led from the waves to the rocks to the swan and then I am expecting a continuation of the ground but it ends. Almost feels like the swan is about to tip over... Have you tried cropping the fg tight? Also I would crop out the right vegetation which does not do much for me. HTH.

[Andrew Harrell]

Glennie: Agree with Ihtisham about the crop. I like some of the rock showing, but the OOF rocks right at the bottom (the blue-ish toned ones) could be removed and I think that would help. I'm not as sure about cropping the vegetation on the right -- will it leave you enough room? If it could be done, then it may help strengthen the photo.

What I really like about this photo and draws my eye are the ruffles on the back of the swan. Very pretty. Maybe with the crop changes above, that becomes more of the center of attention?


AP

[Stuart Philpott]

Hi Glennie ahh mate I do love your water fowl images,so many show me birds I know,but these are actually in the wild in OZ doing what they do it's lovely to see mate.

Glennie,ive pondered this one several times today I don't know if in anyway this might help but your full frame shot is what is drawing me but with some cropped off the bottom and a tiny bit off the left. Would the vegetation on the right offset the weight of such a large essentially black bird, pretty much center to frame,when you shot this the bird is more off center,**** it might throw it more off kilter I don't know.But that is where I'd basically go,for me she is a bit big in frame

Mate, I think it's a lovely image you did we'll on those blacks i'd be struggling methinks add a moving kayak to that wow!!
take care
stu

[Glennie Passier]

Thank you for the comments above. Now it's a big butt shot! I think I've lost the nest.

[Andrew Harrell]

I like the re-post Glennie. Agree about the big rear end, "butt" it's beautiful!!

AP

[Warren Spreng]

A+ on the repost, I love the feathers in the back as well and great job of bringing out details with such a dark subject!

[Sandy Witvoet]

Hi Glennie! Beautiful Swan and good control of the blacks. I, too, love the ruffled feathers. As this is a lovely behavior/environment image, I'd only crop the bottom just to the top of the center/left shiny rock. Shrubs on the right don't bother me...maybe burn the stems a bit. RP is very good, but I kind of lose the feeling of the bird being on-nest. So pretty!

[Diane Miller]

How did I miss this one?

Will have to get back to it tomorrow -- but I really like it!

[Diane Miller]

OK -- I'm back (briefly). Love this one -- different!! I could go with leaving even more of the vegetation on the right -- no right or wrong there, just choice. But it's basically an environmental shot, so why not?

The shape of the swan echoes the FG rocks, so keep as much of them as you can, removing the blue on the ones that remain. I agree on cropping out the water.

Looks good for detail and focus. There is a bit of a blue-leaning color balance, though.

You're finding some good subjects! Keep feeding us!!

[Diane Miller]

Forgot to say -- excellent job of removing the OOF vertical thing at the tail.