Tundra Swan

[Gary Esman]

Hello, shot this morning at a local lake. Appreciate any C and C.

7D, f/5.6, 700mm, iso 250, 1/3200.

Thanks, Gary,

[Alan Murphy]

Gary, love the dark BG in this one. The preening pose is sweet as is the low angle. I might put the bird left in the frame instead of right.

[Melissa Groo]

I love the serenity and grace of this Gary. I like the blue lines in water and BG. Nice detail in those whites and super low angle. I like the comp as is. Great job!

[Randy Stout]

Gary:

Congrats on getting such a low angle shot at that venue. Not easily accomplished.

Trademark yellow patch showing well, good head angle for a preening pose, nice exposure.

Interesting cropping choice to be made here, because the head position/angle with attention directed downward, don't need as much space to the left as if he was looking that way. I think it is effective as is, might be fun to try a couple of variants and see what works best

Cheers

Randy

[Karl Egressy]

A real beauty. I love the pose and details.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Love the light, pose and that blue in the water. I don't mind the blue line in the bg but wish it was a little softer so it doesn't look so sharp of a line.

[Jim Crosswell]

Beautiful image Gary! I like the preening pose, composition and calm water.

[Arthur Morris]

Killer perfect head angle for this preening pose and killer perfect sweet light and EXP. Love the low angle but just a teench higher would have avoided the merge of the top of the head with the bottom of the blue strip.

[Arthur Morris]

Repost with a touch of NIK Color Efex Pro 4.1 Detail Extractor at about 40% to restore detail to the brightest WHITEs (painted in via a Hide-all Mask). The Detail Extractor and Tonal Contrast have revolutionized my workflow.... Learn more about Detail Extractor here.

ps: I should have mentioned that I prefer the image design as is with the bird on the right side of the frame.

[arash_hazeghi]

awesome, love the low angle, details and perfect light angle. you nailed it. I like the composition too

[Gary Esman]

Thank you all for the kind words. When I first started shooting through a chain link fence I got some funny looks, now I am getting good results. The holes I am shooting through are about 3 inch square when the hood of the 500mm. A bit of challenge, but the angle is worth it to me.

Gary.

[Gary Esman]

Repost with a touch of NIK Color Efex Pro 4.1 Detail Extractor at about 40% to restore detail to the brightest WHITEs (painted in via a Hide-all Mask). The Detail Extractor and Tonal Contrast have revolutionized my workflow.... Learn more about Detail Extractor here.

ps: I should have mentioned that I prefer the image design as is with the bird on the right side of the frame.

Artie, thank you I appreciate the extra time this took to do a re-post! Re-post looks great. I forgot yesterday to talk to Randy while we were shooting about the NIK Color Efex Pro. I have checked it out, but it appears I need to look a little closer.

Gary,

[James Salywoda]

A real beauty Gary nice low angle, details and color.

[Josh Clark]

Great low angle shot Gary! That is something I did not try when I was there, shooting through the fence. You nailed down that technique though. I do have to say that Artie's repost brings out some more details in the whites. This is a fantastic shot all around Gary, congrats on this one. I'll have to try that technique on my next visit there. Did they create holes in the fence now? I don't remember there being holes to fit a lens though. Or am I reading your post wrong?