Flexing for his girl - Trumpeter swan drake flapping

[Randy Stout]

This trumpeter was imaged last weekend at the local bird sanctuary. These are wild birds, but they spend a lot of the daylight hours there. They were really frisky and lots of displays, both to mates and towards intruders!

D4 600VR f/5.6 1/2000s ISO 1250 Gitzo/Wimberley

Quite dreary light, so I appreciated the good higher ISO performance of the D4. No noise reduction.

Post: CS5, selective sharpening, Color efex pro on birds ( combination of tonal contrast and detail extractor) 5% crop because of rotation, added sliver of canvas below. Little tight on left, lost a bit there with rotation. Not an easy canvas to extend.

Advice and comments always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[Jeff Sorbie]

Great action capture. The detail and sharpness look good. It looks like it was landing and yelling "Watch Out"!!! LOL

[gail bisson]

Hi Randy,
I like the interaction portrayed here and great wing spread and exposure for the whites.
I wish the eyes were more visible/prominent in both birds. I also wish the female swan was turned more towards us. If you had been 3 feet to the left this would have been an awesome shot. It would have separated the birds a bit and allowed more of a profile to the female.
Gail

[Karl Egressy]

Nice interaction picture, Randy.