On the river

A swan displaying on the River Thames.

 

Swan necks tend to be a bit darker than the rest of the plumage, I've

tried to bring it out a little.

 

What do you think?

I simply love your swan. Beautiful capture! Well done. Rgds Carole

Very difficult backlit lighting situation I also run into quite frequently: the front of the bird is then too dark and one usually - as here - can't see the eye. Good attempt to correct here, I like the pose and would take of a bit on each side of the pic. Fill-in flash would help of course but I usually leave mine at home and don't like to flash animals anyway. Nice job in any case.

Excelente imagen de extraordinaria belleza, perfecta luz y color, bello encuadre , magnifica composicion, saludos cordiales Peter.

It's beautiful, the contrast, reflection and movement of water around the swan elevates it from ordinary to stunning.

Wonderful reflection. Regards.

very nice shot, i love the lighting.

Very elegant Peter..the reflection is very clear, I think you enhanced it a bit (as you say), the transition from the swan reflection to the black zone is a bit abrupt and I think it would be nice to have a smoother transition by using a more progressive selection of the zone...a very elegant and nice shot anyway.

Dear all,

 

Thanks for looking and for your very valuable comments.

 

Dieter,

 

this wasn't actually backlit, the sun would have been behind me, but was behind trees at the top of a high and steep bank. Having seen your portfolio, I'm very pleased to get your comments.

 

Laurent,

 

Other than pushing the contrast a little, the change from pale plumage to dark water is pretty much untouched. Where I have adjusted levels is on the swan's neck, which is quite a bit darker than the rest of the plumage. That sharp outline has just been well recorded using the 300/f4 IS + 1.4x extender. It's very good glassware.

 

Very best wishes.

 

Pete

Then I was wrong...sorry for that (sometimes JPEG compression alone is reponsible for making transition more abrupt) and as I said a very nice and elegant photo.

An elegant shot of the swan in full sail. Beautiful detail and exposure and it looks fine to me with no suggestion of post work.

Beautiful shot! Regards, Flavio.

The Swan looks like "crowned" by his own self feathers. Very beautiful scene and reflections Peter.

I rated this 7 for originality - this view seems so obvious, yet I don't think I've seen a similar photo before!

6 for aesthetics, being picky - the highlights on the right are distracting, they don't seem to connect to the swan, otherwise they may have been good for tracking the swan's path. Also, it probably was simply how it was, but the swan's reflection, particularly the head and tops of the wings looks muddy, which detracts from purity of the swan.