Nature Swans at Ardrossan

Swans at Ardrossan · **6 Likes**

Been a long while since I posted! Finally made it out for a good shoot in clear weather and man, was it good to get out again!

Man, that is one coquettish glint in that swan's eye!

Swan

Could have been a little bit better - apparently I took it at a slight angle (I was lying prone at the time and had to twist sideways to get this one) and it ended up squint... and the problem is that rotating it back into place makes the picture feel a bit claustrophobic - so I decided just to leave it!.

-EDITED-
Okay apparently I can crop it in more than I realised. I had "auto-crop" turned on in the rotation section, so when I rotated it, it snipped off the corners and made the new image a rectangle of max area... which left me no room to crop properly. Disabling that allowed me to crop it to a smaller area while preserving the sides.

I'll to remember that the next time I take a squint photo!

There are more pics in the album but I thought these were the best two

cprobertson1 · 05-09-2021, 03:40 PM - **1 Like**

Right - third time lucky xD

Do you reckon the "portrait" of the swan (earlier post) is alright, brightness-wise? It seems alright on my phone but it's too bright on my monitor - if it's good for you I can use it as a calibration point to fix my monitor brightness.

**Tonytee** · 05-09-2021, 05:05 PM

Very wonderfully constructed images, sir. Many thanks for sharing.

)

tt

**Kevin B123** · 05-09-2021, 11:45 PM

Originally posted by cprobertson1

Do you reckon the "portrait" of the swan (earlier post) is alright, brightness-wise?

It looks good to me now on my monitor. How do you calibrate your monitor, do you have a tool for that?

cprobertson1 · 05-10-2021, 06:48 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by Kevin B123

It looks good to me now on my monitor. How do you calibrate your monitor, do you have a tool for that?

I just used online calibration charts and attempted to do the best I could with my eyes.

It's definitely not perfect, but it seems to be good enough to get by - at least as far as colour goes.

I'm a bit concerned about the brightness though - I'm not quite sure what's going on with that... looking back all the way through my flickr, it seems that a lot of photos are about a 0.33 to 0.5 stops too dark - which is weirdly consistent, excusing a few really dark images, which I hope were deliberate experiments on my part!

We'll see if it makes a difference - I still think the biggest contributor to systemic darkness in my photos is me though

Andrea K · 05-10-2021, 07:41 AM

Nice shot! Try to enhance the two tones: white and dark blu.

**Michail_P** · 05-10-2021, 09:00 AM

A fantastic result to be printed and hanged. Very well executed.

ktbartosik · 05-11-2021, 04:13 PM

So beautiful!! Really stunning.

**ProfessorBuzz** · 05-13-2021, 04:45 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by cprobertson1

Quick questions... right above the wingtip there is a shadow caused by ripple - is it distracting enough to be worth removing?

Brightness... Would it benefit from being a little bit brighter?

I'd leave the shadow alone - the correction might seem unnatural and present more distraction.

You could punch it up a bit. Sometimes I'll do a small 4x5 print on a good inkjet to see what my photo looks like.

Monitors lie

I work with a graphic designer who does mostly digital work, and find the same challenge - monitor calibration is hard unless you keep it the same in a dimly lit room evenly illuminated. And who has space or time for that?!

cprobertson1
	View full profile
	Contact via private message
	Find other posts by cprobertson1
	Find threads started by cprobertson1
	Find threads in which cprobertson1 has posted

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Nature Trumpeter Swans	DWS1	Post Your Photos!	2	01-09-2020 06:19 AM
Trumpter Swans Universal Mines, Indiana	stemked	Monthly Photo Contests	4	09-08-2019 04:43 PM
Swans at Sunrise	BigDave	Monthly Photo Contests	13	08-10-2019 10:31 AM
Swans in Action (8 Large Photos)	MightyMike	Post Your Photos!	5	04-21-2009 08:07 AM
swans	simons-photography	Photographic Technique	27	05-23-2008 01:08 AM

05-09-2021, 03:40 PM - 1 Like	#16
cprobertson1 Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Irvine, Ayrshire Posts: 386 Original Poster	Right - third time lucky xD Do you reckon the "portrait" of the swan (earlier post) is alright, brightness-wise? It seems alright on my phone but it's too bright on my monitor - if it's good for you I can use it as a calibration point to fix my monitor brightness.

05-09-2021, 05:05 PM	#17
Tonytee Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2012 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 21,505	Very wonderfully constructed images, sir. Many thanks for sharing. ) tt

05-09-2021, 11:45 PM	#18
Kevin B123 Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Hampshire Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,178	Originally posted by cprobertson1 Do you reckon the "portrait" of the swan (earlier post) is alright, brightness-wise? It looks good to me now on my monitor. How do you calibrate your monitor, do you have a tool for that?

05-10-2021, 06:48 AM - 1 Like	#19
cprobertson1 Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Irvine, Ayrshire Posts: 386 Original Poster	Originally posted by Kevin B123 It looks good to me now on my monitor. How do you calibrate your monitor, do you have a tool for that? I just used online calibration charts and attempted to do the best I could with my eyes. It's definitely not perfect, but it seems to be good enough to get by - at least as far as colour goes. I'm a bit concerned about the brightness though - I'm not quite sure what's going on with that... looking back all the way through my flickr, it seems that a lot of photos are about a 0.33 to 0.5 stops too dark - which is weirdly consistent, excusing a few really dark images, which I hope were deliberate experiments on my part! We'll see if it makes a difference - I still think the biggest contributor to systemic darkness in my photos is me though

05-10-2021, 07:41 AM	#20
Andrea K Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Rome, Italy Posts: 822	Nice shot! Try to enhance the two tones: white and dark blu.

05-10-2021, 09:00 AM	#21
Michail_P Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Kalymnos Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,006	A fantastic result to be printed and hanged. Very well executed.

05-11-2021, 04:13 PM	#22
ktbartosik Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2020 Posts: 157	So beautiful!! Really stunning.

05-13-2021, 04:45 AM - 1 Like	#23
ProfessorBuzz Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2018 Posts: 1,903	Originally posted by cprobertson1 Quick questions... right above the wingtip there is a shadow caused by ripple - is it distracting enough to be worth removing? Brightness... Would it benefit from being a little bit brighter? I'd leave the shadow alone - the correction might seem unnatural and present more distraction. You could punch it up a bit. Sometimes I'll do a small 4x5 print on a good inkjet to see what my photo looks like. Monitors lie I work with a graphic designer who does mostly digital work, and find the same challenge - monitor calibration is hard unless you keep it the same in a dimly lit room evenly illuminated. And who has space or time for that?!