“Protective” is always the word that comes to my mind when seeings Mute Swans with offspring. While I was lying on the bank waiting for a Grebe to come closer, I noticed one adult Swan with some little ones coming my direction. Quickly changed my settings and waited for some nice moments. Thanks for any comments. Have a nice Sunday, Hans
Nikon D500 with 500mm | 1/1000s | f4.5 I ISO500 | overexposed 1 2/3 EV | camera handheld on river bank
Hans, you have really shown the protective nature of the swan. A very unusual bird photo and very striking!
Hi Hans
I love the white on white of little Swan. The detail, coloring and framing are right on. Did you paint the adult Swan head or is just correctly out of focus? Nice work.
Peter
A very unusual image with the foreground bird so out of focus, but I think it works in this case, Hans. I also like the hi-key background with the white birds-I think it works much better than a more contrasting background would.
So beautiful and graceful! I love the originality of your composition and choice of focus/DOF.
Thanks, Peter. No, this is what came out of the camera, very shallow DOF as you can see from the aperture number. Cheers,
Hans, ‘beautiful’ is the word. And original. So there you go, great shot!
Ingrid.
Excellent, Hans! I love it. Fantastic shapes and use of the adult to frame the chick.
I admit that I have one quibble, and it probably comes down to the way my eye takes this scene in, which may well be different from others’ interpretations. I see that you’ve centered the cygnet, and I understand the reasoning. However, when I look at this I am seeing an overall combined shape of both youngster and adult… so I actually feel like that should be centered. Because there’s just a little bit more room in front of the adult’s face at right—compared to the amount of space behind the neck (and tail of the cygnet) at left—it all feels a little off-center to me. We’re literally talking about no more than 5-7% of the frame, probably, but in my mind that’s altering the balance of the image. Interesting how little differences like that can create disparities in how we interpret things visually.
Max
Thanks- I see what you mean. Will experiment a bit with the composition to see what happens! Thanks for your input! Cheers, Hans
Sublime. You need to enter this one into some contests.
A very unique and artistic photo of this Swan Cygnet pair, Hans! The white on white is very effective here and adds to the artistic appearance. I wish it had included the top of the adult swan’s neck & head but you got just enough to complete the loop of protection. Nice job!
A great shot, Hans. Love the arching of the adult’s neck over the young one. Protective parent is certainly portrayed here. Well done.
It’s a gorgeous shot, Hans, no nits for me.
Grt, Ingrid.