Whooper Swan Portrait

[kiwigav]

Was standing in the river esk taking photos of Moorhens (which didn't turn out too great) when this whooper swan walked over to check me out, as usual tried for something a bit different than the standard portrait shots, sadly a dog came and scared it off after a couple of shots:


whooper swan - Scotland - Gavin Hamilton by GavHamilton, on Flickr

20D
ISO: 200
Ap: f5.6
Exp: 500th of second
lens: Canon EF 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II USM @155
filters: none
extenders: none.


whooper swan - Scotland - Gavin Hamilton by GavHamilton, on Flickr


20D
ISO: 200
Ap: f5.6
Exp: 500th of second
lens: Canon EF 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II USM @200
filters: none
extenders: none.

[Stan]

Re: Whooper Swan Portrait

The first one is great Gavin, nice detail in the wet feathers and a drop on the end of the beak. I reckon you could get a bit more detail from the eye with a selective levels layer though

Stan

[Hereford_EOS]

Re: Whooper Swan Portrait

Very nice

[mwphoto]

Re: Whooper Swan Portrait

Gavin - when did you take these and was it a wild bird - also which River Esk, am assuming the Dalkeith/Musselburgh variant?? As a birder/wildlife photographer keen on tracking these birds arriving back for winter nice to have detailed info. On the pics, I know you've lost the end of the beak and probably therefore broken a number of 'rules' most of us ignore, but I do keep getting drawn back to no. 2 - something about that that really appeals to me!

Mark W

[kiwigav]

Re: Whooper Swan Portrait

thanks everyone.

Hey Mark, the swan was indeed wild, but sorry to say this was a while ago - 26th of May 2008 (which I thought was a bit late in the year?) and the River Esk almost at the mouth of it where it goes through Musselburgh.

The second one is my personal favourite, I was trying very hard to get the facial details of the swan and planned to do wider shots after getting in for intimate shots, but sadly a dog scared it off, I really should say the owner; as it was the owner that yelled out "oi what you dooin' down in the river?" then the dog barked and the swan was on it's way north again.

Sorry for confusion on when they were taken, the reason I'm putting up older photos is I'm going through old photographs as I'm in bed after ankle surgery, 3 and a half years waiting for the NHS with torn ankle tendons hasn't been fun! I've since found out they weren't meant to keep me waiting any longer than 18 weeks!!!

[John27]

Re: Whooper Swan Portrait

Hi Gav, I like the composition in both, as their unusual crops.

John

[rcarca]

Re: Whooper Swan Portrait

I like them. Slightly ambivalent about the second crop, but as Mark says, it has a counter-intuitive appeal.

Richard

[tesarver]

Whooper Swan Portrait



Tom

[hhcanon]

Re: Whooper Swan Portrait

The first one is great Gavin, nice detail in the wet feathers and a drop on the end of the beak. I reckon you could get a bit more detail from the eye with a selective levels layer though

Stan

Agree with Stan totally on this one - well done

[mwphoto]

Re: Whooper Swan Portrait

Cheers Gavin - yes May is late - our local Whoopers are normally gone by the end of March but cheers anyway. Migrants are on their way back so not long before I can get the lens on them again! Ankle sounds crap - sue the pants off 'em!

[DeeGee]

Re: Whooper Swan Portrait

I keep been pulled to the second one. I know that it breaks rules because its not got the tip of the beak etc.. But the colour pulls me in along with the scattered water droplets.

[kiwigav]

Re: Whooper Swan Portrait

Gavin - when did you take these and was it a wild bird - also which River Esk, am assuming the Dalkeith/Musselburgh variant?? As a birder/wildlife photographer keen on tracking these birds arriving back for winter nice to have detailed info. On the pics, I know you've lost the end of the beak and probably therefore broken a number of 'rules' most of us ignore, but I do keep getting drawn back to no. 2 - something about that that really appeals to me!

Mark W

Hey Mark, just been told there's 200+ Whoopers in East Lothian at the moment, I've updated this page http://www.wbist.com/archives/138 with the most up to date info I have. I haven't seen them, so can't confirm it, but it's from a pretty reliable source.