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Thread: Swans of Lakeland, Florida

  1. #1
    jprzybyla's Avatar
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    Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    Yesterday Dottie and I went to Lake Morton to photograph the swans and other waterfowl. The swans below are two of the five species in the lakes within the city limits. In the 1950's the swans were not existent, having fell victims to natures elements and predators. To repopulate the swans a request was sent to the Queen of England for a mating pair of the royal swans on the Thames River. The request was granted, a pair captured, crated and shipped to the city of Lakeland, Florida. All on the white Mute Swans are descendants of that pair of swans from England. The Black Swans were a gift to the city from Australia. All of the Black Swans are descendants of that pair.

    Mute Swan

    #1

    Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    #2

    Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    #3

    Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    #4

    Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    Black Swan

    #1

    Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    #2

    Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    While there this bird caught my attention because of the large reddish orange eye so I captured a couple images. At home after post processing and trying to identify it I realized that it was the molting stage of a bird I had photographed earlier in the year. A male Wood Duck....

    Molting Stage

    Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    Normal Plumage

    Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    C&C welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.
    Last edited by jprzybyla; 11th September 2013 at 03:37 PM.

  2. #2
    Digital's Avatar
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    Re: Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    Beautiful photographs.


    Bruce

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    Re: Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    All Beautiful! So sharp and detailed. Everyone on this site refers to your method for exposure of white birds. How did you expose for the white and black birds too?

    I really love the last photo of the colorful duck with the water so smooth.

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    Wavelength's Avatar
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    Re: Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    All are excellent and first one is the superbmost of all...

  5. #5
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    Re: Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    They're beautiful images. The first one is superb - the dashes of blue on the water makes it look like impressionist's painting.

    And I especially like the smooth water of the last one.

    Swans on the Thames in the 1950s is a surprise to me; I thought the river was too polluted back then. Perhaps they were in the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park?

    Tony

  6. #6
    jprzybyla's Avatar
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    Re: Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    Quote Originally Posted by Digital View Post
    Beautiful photographs.


    Bruce
    Thanks Bruce, very much appreciated.

  7. #7
    jprzybyla's Avatar
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    Re: Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    Quote Originally Posted by ajsmith View Post
    All Beautiful! So sharp and detailed. Everyone on this site refers to your method for exposure of white birds. How did you expose for the white and black birds too?

    I really love the last photo of the colorful duck with the water so smooth.
    Hello Ali, thank you for viewing and commenting. The sharpeness and detail I attribute to great cameras and lenses. Regarding the expose in the field I use the LCD screen that shows blown highlights as blinkies. I use the EV button to lower the exposure for white birds until the blinking stops. In Florida experience has taught me is normally about -1 EV. The in post processing I raise the exposure carefully and use the Adjustment Brush in Adobe Lightroom to burn and dodge areas and feathers. For black birds bright light is needed. Normally I use the exposure from Matrix Metering and adjust from there in post processing.

  8. #8
    jprzybyla's Avatar
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    Re: Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    Quote Originally Posted by Wavelength View Post
    All are excellent and first one is the superbmost of all...
    Thank you Nandakumar, I appreciate you taking time to view and comment.

  9. #9
    jprzybyla's Avatar
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    Re: Swans of Lakeland, Florida

    Quote Originally Posted by Tony M View Post
    They're beautiful images. The first one is superb - the dashes of blue on the water makes it look like impressionist's painting.

    And I especially like the smooth water of the last one.

    Swans on the Thames in the 1950s is a surprise to me; I thought the river was too polluted back then. Perhaps they were in the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park?

    Tony
    Hello Tony, thank you for viewing and commenting. Below is a link to one of the sources of information regarding the origin of the swans.

    http://www.lmna.org/index.php/Pages/...ke-Morton.html

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