In the landing pattern

[Randy Stout]

A cold, bright day in Michigan.
The trumpeter swans were flying formations and I caught this group on final. A bit busy, but I liked the flow of wings and feet back through the image. Side lighting, but the reflection off the snow helped with fill.

Nikon D700 500mm f/4 f/6.3 1/5000 ISO 400 EV- .7

Post: PS CS4 small crop for comp, sharpening, curves & levels

Advice always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[Jim Fenton]

Randy...

Exposure looks fine....sharpness looks great on the lead subject.

The thing that distracts for me is that as my eyes are lead back through the line of incoming swans, when I get to the end, I have this grouping of dark haphazard sticks or whatever in the background.

I also find the shadows coming in from the left distracting. They are of course real, but it almost confuses the line of the incoming birds.

Maybe I'm just getting too picky these days:confused:

[Danny J Brown]

Hi Randy - I love what you've done here, showing the progression of swans going from tack sharp to pure bokeh. The composition is fascinating as you look at the "scalloped" formation of these airborne leviathans. And I have to mention the look on the leader's face as well as his landing gear position. Snow looks great as well. I'd love to have this one to show my friends/fans! As a matter of fact, you've inspired me to head out to the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary on the Mississippi here in St. Louis where we have a couple of hundred trumpeters hanging out as we speak. I might even take off a day this week!!

[Todd Frost]

Interesting image, I kinda like it. I see what Jim is saying re: the branches in the bg, the shadows don't bother me. As mentioned techs look good.
Todd

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The group of swans - in focus and not - make this a pretty cool image. I also wish the dark branches/trunks in the BG were not there and might give it a tad more room at the top.

[Art Peslak]

Very cool effect with the line of landing swans. The exposure looks fine to me.

[Dave Leroy]

Tough birds. They live in the Arctic in summer time and look what they get in the winter! I might be tempted to crop some off the right to eliminate some of the dark bg. Very nice pattern and good for you to get it. Nicely exposed. Dave

[Justin Reznick]

Unique image, I really like what you did here. Exposure looks spot on. Critiques - agree with more room needed on top and slightly distracting background. I really dig this shot!

[Debbie Barnes]

I love the idea of this shot! I think you have executed the idea well, but I also agree on getting more room on top.

[Stu Bowie]

Randy, Good show of DOF falling away from the leading swan. Overall nicely exposed, and another vote for more room on top.

[Ron Caswell]

Randy, I like the image a lot and know how tough it is to get a bunch of them in a row like that. I agree with others that it's a bit crowded at the top. What a beautiful day it was there. Ron

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone for the comments::)

I will do a little tweaking, more room on top, and perhaps work on the trees in RUC.

Cheers

Randy

[Myer Bornstein]

I like it. In the old days with film the corrections noted were not as easy as now with digital

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Liked the comp. Randy. With the light angle clearly against you, you did an awesome job.

[Hendri Venter]

This is such a cool image. I like the way the dark feet and heads stands out against the light BG.