I don’t shoot many photos of animals. I hope I’ve posted this to the correct category. This is a black swan that lives in an outdoor pond area located within the confines of a hotel in Napa, CA. So this swan was well cared for by humans, and was nice enough to pose for me here.
Specific Feedback Requested
All feedback is welcome. As I said, I don’t shoot many animals, so I’m a little unsure of how to handle the post-processing. I added some clarity and texture adjustments with Lightroom, and used a radial filter to darken the areas around the swan’s head and neck. I also lowered the highlights in the image in an attempt to reduce the glare on the swan’s head feathers and beak. But was it enough? Any other suggestions for adjustments?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Nikon DSLR, 1/250sec, f/16, ISO 1600, 300mm, no flash
My only experience with black swans was with a pair that was also captive and boy were they foul tempered. Probably nesting and territorial but I wouldn’t want to have gotten this close. I think the crop is a tad tight and the blacks are too light and as a result the feathers OOF are distracting. Do you have any where the bird is looking at you more directly? That would be more effective with a portrait like this. And it might be my monitor, but I think the red channel has some blow out. It’s probably due to the overexposure (to get blacks to come out properly you can’t over expose) and very easy to do with reds and yellows. Is the white mark on the bill put there by the owners? The feather detail is terrific.
Thanks Kristen! I actually wasn’t too close for this shot - I made this image with a telephoto lens. I think you’re right about the blacks - I’ll see if I can deepen them. I’ll also adjust the crop to give him a little more room. Unfortunately I don’t have any other shots of him looking directly at me though.
I know what you mean about the red being intense. I’ve been playing with that. When I reduce the red saturation the result doesn’t seem realistic to what I saw. But I’ll keep working on it. (That white mark is actually a natural marking.)
Thanks again for the feedback!
I agree with Kristen on the blacks. When I saw these in Australia a number of years ago, they looked very black and the beaks were pretty intense reds as I recall. I think bringing down the overall luminosity might help with both. I really like the pose, though I agree it might be a tad tight. I think a bit more room on the right and top,if you have it. With an almost head-on pose like this, I would tend to move the bird more toward the center of the frame than the traditional 1/3 line.
Thanks Dennis! I do have a little more room at the top and right. Not much, but enough to move the swan a little further towards the center. Thanks for the feedback!
