Part of a flock of about 1500 swans that winter on an open stretch of Mississippi River NW of the Twin Cities. The River is kept open be releases of hot water from an upstream power plant.
Canon 40D
Canon 300mm L IS handheld
Shutter: 1/1600
Aperture: f/6.3 - 1/3
ISO: 200
No flash
Temperature: -3 degrees
Tough to compose a photo of two big birds in flight. This one feels a little tight to me; I'd like to see more room on the left. Neither head looks particularly sharp; perhaps an ISO bump and some more DOF. And I'd like to see better wing position on both birds. Thanks for posting!
Hi Roger, I agree with Doug here. If you have it you can add some canvas back in front of the swan's, it will give them more romm to "fly" into. Although shutter speed looked more than reasonable for these large birds, I agree that bumping up the ISO and then stopping down a bit could help getting both birds equally sharp, especially if one is closer to you than the other (however minute that may sometimes look). I don't mind the wing position as it conveys a gliding-in for a landing motion. Just a question...there is an odd arc in the water in front of the left bird. Was there some PS work done there?
I like the similar poses, wings up or down would have been better, though. I agree regarding more room at the left, sharpening and it looks as if it needs a bit CW rotation.
Even though the wing positions could be better there is good separation of the birds and it's nicely exposed for these white birds. I was at this location a couple of weeks ago so I can empathize with the problems shooting from the limited area allowed. Many of my flight shots of landing birds include one or more of the ducks also found here.
Thanks for the comments. This image is pretty much full-frame. I cropped a bit off the right but nothing off the left. The converted TIFF was sharp, but it appears I lost some sharpness in the JPEG, although I did sharpen the image after reducing the size for this post. The wing position is typical of a landing swan. I agree that a wing up or down would have been nice, but this is how they look on approach! Daniel, I'm impressed that you detected an arc in the water. I cloned out a bit of grass that found its way into the field of view. Always something!
Trumpeter Swans
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