Hi Dave,
I’m a sucker for reflections so I like what you have captured here. A peaceful mood to this image. I wish the swan’s head would have been turned so that we could see a catchlight in the eye and more light on the face. Nicely composed though. I think running noise reduction on the water/background would help.
A nice reflection and a good job handling the brighter whites, Dave. An interesting species. Do you know if it was someone’s exotic or a natural vagrant?
I agree with Allen’s suggestion on the noise in the background.
Dennis-
Yes, there are a total of 4 of them that were bought and shipped here from some outfit in the midwest. I heard they were brought in to the lake area to discourage the Canadas from being down there crapping on everything but that did not happen. They peacefully coexist. I always like catching the swans on a glassy smooth lake surface for the reflections.
d
I really like the moodiness here. In that way, I think the side/back-lighting helped. The entire image is pretty noisy, though. Looking at the techs, I’d assume this was underexposed? If you had time, I would’ve turned the ISO way down. Def didnt need that much SS!
I’m guilty of taking even hastily shot files and, if I like the subject well enough, going ahead and trying to milk a shot into something and my enemy is usually noise along with sharpness. I’m just finishing Steve Perry’s VERY informative e-book Secrets to Exposure and Metering for Nikon and it’s caused me to adjust my shooting techniques quite a bit, including the best way to shoot high contrast subject matter… like this shot taken last year. That plus the great advice I’m getting here is bound to improve my shooting abilities.
Grasshopper
Nice one, it has a certain calmness to it, which I love. Cheers, Hans