BIRDS 119 – MUTE SWAN 6 (MONO)
November 9, 2019 15 Comments
The three young swans slowly and silently make their way down into the river
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In an earlier post (which you can find here ) I described a meeting with a family of Mute Swans on the banks of Cripps River, on the Somerset Levels. I’d come upon a family of these birds on the river bank and, keeping quiet and still, started taking pictures. I looked at them, they looked at me and then, unhurriedly and very gently, they made their way down to the water’s edge, and slowly moved off upstream. Here are two more images from that quiet encounter.
Click onto each image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Two of the young swans, moving off slowly up river
Other recent bird pictures are here: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 .
Technique: Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens used in APS-C format to give 450mm; in-camera processing and cropping of raw files, using the Graphite profile; further processing in Capture NX2; Cripps River, at Eastern Moor Bridge, on the Somerset Levels east of East Huntspill; 25 Oct 2019.
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About Adrian Lewis
I’m a fan of the second image – it was daring of you to cut the bird in the foreground up llike that, and boy, does it work well. 😉
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Glad the 2nd one gets to you – radical cropping to exclude the surroundings; I plan to show the whole of both these birds at some stage. A 🙂
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These are gorgeous images, Adrian. Your processing is beautiful and I love the minimalist feel in the second. 🙂
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Thank you, Jane >>> but I have to say that the Z 6 camera is doing a lot of this processing on its own ie in-camera, via its raw processing, Graphite profile and in-camera cropping facility!!! I do do further LR work sometimes, but in other instances the jpegs emerge from the camera ready to post. I’m very impressed by this camera’s capabilities.
And, also, I do enjoy your images very much, and being in contact with you is certainly a good and worthwhile thing. Adrian 🙂
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Wow! I bet my Fuji has similar features that I have not explored. It’s great that you get them mostly how you want straight out of the camera.
I’m happy to be connected, too. I always learn something from your excellent images.
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Yes, the X-T2 has similar facilities >>> get a raw file displayed on the camera’s back screen; go to Play Back menu, and choose RAW CONVERSION, and a whole list of actions appear; try FILM SIMULATION, and there are some really good ones – try ACROS . Then the Q button on the camera’s back to create, and if you like the result, OK saves it as a jpeg – and you can specify the size and quality of the jpegs you produce. The original raw file remains untouched. I find such in-camera editing a real aid to creativity. A 🙂
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Adrian, this is so helpful. I’ve had some failed attempts at the proper way to do film sims and now I know why. Thanks so much, my techie friend. 🙂
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LOL!!! >>> don’t know if I’m a techie!!!!!!! 🙂 VERY glad to be of help. The X-T2’s (and presumable now the X-T3’s) film simulations are considered to be some of the best in the business. My advice to you us to get into that RAW CONVERSION menu option, and then to explore it and just “mess around”. I don’t think you can damage the original raw file but, just in case, experiment using a raw that you don’t mind the camera eating!!! The process creates jpegs (go for max quality) and so these can be read into Lightroom (if this is what you use) intact, ie without LR removing the simulation looks. A 🙂
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Lol! Thank you! 😄
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These are both great, but the lower shot is the one that really gets me. I love this high key work you’re doing with the swans.
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Thank you – glad these swan pics are hitting the spot; think I have one or two more. There’s too much extraneous material in the top one, but I like the shapes formed by the birds’ heads and necks – they look graceful and possibly even enquiring. The lower pic eliminates almost all of their surroundings.
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Love the detail; the tones and the textures. I like the way the second image has isolated the swans from their surroundings.
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Thank you – yes, that’s the thing about the lower image, its been cropped so that almost nothing of the surroundings is visible – glad you like the effect! A 🙂
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Lovely shots!
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Thank you! 🙂
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