Swans, Galway

Very good job.

A touch of underexposure would have turned the water completely black and exposed the swans better - Same goes for snow-scenes - you can get some funky shots the same way by push-processing your film and increasing its rating: increasing contrast - lights lighter, darks darker. Nice shot - perhaps by croping in closer on the more bunched swans on the bottom left might improve the image furthur, cutting out the flare also.

I'm not sure what's in the lower left corner, but otherwise, you've captured a moment that must have been really eye opening. you've distilled the scene down to its most basic visual elements. The sun reflecting brightly off the water, the busy avenue of pure white swans, and all of it in crisp detail. none of that misty stuff here. I like the clarity of this - its not a hazy memory, or a dream. This is so real that it feels unreal. I can't believe I just said that. but its true.

Andrew,

That's what I like about it too, the fairy-tale unrealness. I would have cropped (what I think is my knee) the lower left corner but I like the swan in the upper left. Maybe I'll attempt some photoshop magic someday.

Yes, I am for this real/unleal contrast too. Academics will certainly say you should remove your knee. But if you leave it in, you have a totally different photograph, perhaps less aesthetic but more original, more interesting in my opinion anyway. The knee brings the photograph down to earth. It gives it a vertical dimension (height-depth). It tells a story that I don't think the birds would tell it alone (see my presentation 'Relations' for more explanations). Unfortunatly, the knee is a bit weak in terms of colour/focus. Perhaps you might consider photoshoping another colour.