Goose & Swan shots

Hoser · Mar 22, 2009

First shots with birds. C&C welcome

Just cruisin' on bye.

All alone now. I think I might have too much above & below the swan on this one. Should I crop some out, or does it look ok to you guys?

This guy (or girl....not sure) never looked directly at me, but I think it turned out ok.

I hope I'm not sounding too needy for feedback.

firebird1984 · Mar 22, 2009

Hey Hoser...lol. First off I like the composition in the second photo if anything I would take a small amount off of the top but not too much. The one thing I would work on is making sure that the whites of the swan are not blown out. It's a hard thing to accomplish when shooting at midday but it is possible. The goose photo is nice but I would have tried to take it at a different angle if possible to maybe make the background seem less busy, and maybe on the single swan photo as well to try and get the swans reflection in frame too.

Brent McWhirter
Chimera Photography

adman_glazer · Mar 23, 2009

Would these shots happen to be from the swan migration out by the Aylmer Police College??

chadsdphoto · Mar 23, 2009

I like the compositon of #2, it's lined up pretty well for a magazine cover.

I've said this before on other similar shots - These are okay, but the midday light is what is keeping them from being really good. Some early morning or late afternoon low-angle light would help these a lot. So would some "behavior" where the bird are flopping their wings, grooming themselves, flying, or whatever.

I've shot a lot of geese, examples here - Dakotagraph: geese

Hoser · Mar 23, 2009

adman_glazer said:
Would these shots happen to be from the swan migration out by the Aylmer Police College??

Nope. These are from a river that runs through Cootes Paradise in Dundas (just west of Hamilton).

I agree with you guys about the swans being blown out because of the sun. These were taken at about 3:30 in the afternoon. If I tone down the lighting then the water turns brown, and I thought the bit of blue tinge I got from upping the lighting looked better. I'll try some more shots later this week earlier in the day.

Thanx for the help. I appreciate it. :thumbup: