Preparing for take off

[lovelife65]

Fields full of Swans today. Tough lighting, got out too late. So, lighting on the bird is rough. But, none-the-less such beautiful birds on a beautiful winter day.

Feel like I missed really good detail, and maybe the field was the wrong color to really make the image of high quality. But, I truly love this time of year and these birds.

There were also Bald Eagles circling. Ah, another day!

[xpatUSA]

I like swans too, Sharon. None around here but Lincoln, England had plenty when I lived there.

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts, you just needed to get to the other side of the field.

[lovelife65]

Nice efforts, you just needed to get to the other side of the field.

yes!

[Wavelength]

Beautiful; had you attempted to enhance contrast a bit?

[lovelife65]

Beautiful; had you attempted to enhance contrast a bit?

Thank you and yes sir. Tough composition with the light, yellow field, white bird. Must work on it a bit. I did like the back facing wing span which is why I took it in the first place.
Certainly still learning better techniques and my camera

[Craigie]

Nice shot Sharon, I love the wing feathers.

[Davejl]

I like it. Good detail in the wing feathers, and the back-end shot is a perfctly valid one

[Davejl]

I like it. Good detail in the wing feathers, the eye is visible, and the back-end shot is a perfctly valid one

[Geoff F]

Swans are so difficult to photograph without loosing feather detail. This shot has worked well.

[NorthernFocus]

They are beautiful birds indeed. Dorsal feathers are almost always more interesting than the breast. But it sure helps if the bird looks back across a shoulder at you. A simple turn of the head can make the difference between an awesome dorsal shot and a "bird butt"(which would typically get panned on a bird photography site).

There's no reason that lighting should have been difficult in this shot. There's not that much contrast between the bird and BG. If you simply expose for the bird the BG would be slightly under exposed but with that color it would hardly be noticeable.

What mode were you shooting? And which metering mode? As originally posted is it the original frame size or has it been cropped?

[lovelife65]

They are beautiful birds indeed. Dorsal feathers are almost always more interesting than the breast. But it sure helps if the bird looks back across a shoulder at you. A simple turn of the head can make the difference between an awesome dorsal shot and a "bird butt"(which would typically get panned on a bird photography site).

There's no reason that lighting should have been difficult in this shot. There's not that much contrast between the bird and BG. If you simply expose for the bird the BG would be slightly under exposed but with that color it would hardly be noticeable.

What mode were you shooting? And which metering mode? As originally posted is it the original frame size or has it been cropped?

Thanks a ton for the feedback. LOL. Good old bird butt .
You are right, it wasn't high noon, and the light was behind but still shining on the bird. Part of the issue is access too, since walking into the farm fields isn't allowed. This is cropped, as it was with my fujifilm 90mm lens, but there were other birds in the picture (there are hundreds in the fields). Would have loved to get him to look over. Was worried about scaring them all off. I waited for quite some time.
I'm using spot metering right now. I switched from multi. I always shoot in manual mode, in this case using auto focus.
The skies were bright blue, so I metered against them to avoid blowing them out, yet the skies aren't in this photo, so .... wrong choice

[madcrow]

If it was my image I wouldn't be knocking it. It's a good image and no shortage of detail. Nicely done.

[NorthernFocus]

... Was worried about scaring them all off. I waited for quite some time...

Good on you. Wildlife has enough of a challenge feeding themselves every day without us interrupting them. In theory one reason bird photographers decry BB shots is to dissuade people intentionally flushing birds to get flight shots. Unfortunately we can't read their minds so we all flush them from time to time. Goodness knows in the past few days dealing with unfamiliar species I've seen seen quite a few tail feathers

...I'm using spot metering right now. I switched from multi. I always shoot in manual mode, in this case using auto focus.
The skies were bright blue, so I metered against them to avoid blowing them out, yet the skies aren't in this photo, so .... wrong choice

You may be over complicating things. Particularly since you shoot in manual (I assume you mean REAL manual mode WITHOUT auto ISO enabled?) Knowing you're shooting white birds you can simply set up for the sunny f22 rule and fire away. Living in higher latitudes this time of year you may need to tweak the rule a bit. The sun is low enough in the sky for some light to be filtered even on (seemingly)clear days. In a situation like this where the bird is there and you're waiting for something to happen it's even easier. I just shoot a couple of sample shots, check the histogram, and adjust settings. And continue waiting....

I enjoy your posts. Love the area you live in. It's top of our list of places to retire to if/when we leave Alaska.

[lovelife65]

Nice shot Sharon, I love the wing feathers.

Thank you Gary. They are beautiful birds, and quite noisy too!

[lovelife65]

I like it. Good detail in the wing feathers, and the back-end shot is a perfctly valid one

Thank you very much Dave.

[lovelife65]

If it was my image I wouldn't be knocking it. It's a good image and no shortage of detail. Nicely done.

Thanks Maurice! I'm learning so much from all you guys here just looking at images.

[lovelife65]

Hi Dan and thanks.
Yes, there are usually so many in the fields, having patience usually will mean some movement. Doesn't mean I haven't been tempted to help them along a bit .

Yes, full manual mode. The xpro-2 makes it so easy to have pretty much full control over the camera with dials on the outside. I could play around with bumping up the ISO a bit higher than 1-200 at times, with probably little impact on image quality. Maybe do some experimentation at times when appropriate. Thanks for your suggestions, they make perfect sense. Practice practice practice.

Yes, you are right. This is the most beautiful place I've lived. Being outdoor enthusiasts, can't really find a better place. We are very fortunate, just wish it hadn't taken so long to get here (been here just over four years, having left the CA Bay Area).

Good on you. Wildlife has enough of a challenge feeding themselves every day without us interrupting them. In theory one reason bird photographers decry BB shots is to dissuade people intentionally flushing birds to get flight shots. Unfortunately we can't read their minds so we all flush them from time to time. Goodness knows in the past few days dealing with unfamiliar species I've seen seen quite a few tail feathers


You may be over complicating things. Particularly since you shoot in manual (I assume you mean REAL manual mode WITHOUT auto ISO enabled?) Knowing you're shooting white birds you can simply set up for the sunny f22 rule and fire away. Living in higher latitudes this time of year you may need to tweak the rule a bit. The sun is low enough in the sky for some light to be filtered even on (seemingly)clear days. In a situation like this where the bird is there and you're waiting for something to happen it's even easier. I just shoot a couple of sample shots, check the histogram, and adjust settings. And continue waiting....

I enjoy your posts. Love the area you live in. It's top of our list of places to retire to if/when we leave Alaska.