Swan Silhouette

[gelloche]

hello everyone, newbie here and this is my first post Took this picture at Botanics and would appreciate your views and critique..

I wanted to capture a silhouette of the swan in its natural habitat, and included a reflection of the sunset to highlight the outline of the swan and also to give it a feeling of serenity. I hope to get your comments in the following areas:

1. The composition - I know about the rule of thirds, but I thought its better to put the swan in the centre. Is it okay in this case, to not to follow the rule?

2. The framing - Are the plants at the side distracting? But its not very possible to exclude the plants and include the reflection unless I do a portrait picture instead.

3. Exposure - I underexposed the foreground to get the silhouette, but is it overly done?

4. And any other things that you think I should know, and look out for.

Thanks! I'll really appreciate criticisms aye! And sorry if my questions sound noobish though hee.:embrass:

 

[night86mare]

the rule of thirds doesn't matter here, mainly because the swan is too much blended with all the shadows, i do get the idea that there is a swan there, but i see a swan being eaten up by grass and reeds. the composition is far too cluttered. what is the big block of thing on the right?

here it is hard, wait until the swan goes into the water to take a shot, if the big block of thing is not there, you can try going as low as possible to position the swan "against the sky" rather than blending in with the shadows. perspective is everything, if you bother to visualise.

learning when to shoot is just as important as shooting.

 

[gelloche]

Haha thats actually a reflection of the tree submerged in the water.

Thanks! So I should actually exclude the plants at the side?

 

[night86mare]

Haha thats actually a reflection of the tree submerged in the water.

Thanks! So I should actually exclude the plants at the side?

it depends.

i only know that it seems that from the swan's position at that point in time, there is no easy shot unless you happen to have an extremely long lens, perhaps.

 

[gelloche]

Thanks Nightmare, a lot to learn from you

 

[catchlights]

crop one forth away from the left,
crop about one third away from the right,
crop one fifth away from the bottom

you will have your Swan Silhouette photo

 

[Override2Zion]

the composition is far too cluttered. what is the big block of thing on the right?

Agree with bro night86mare, the dark body on the right does not compliment the image and is a distraction. Technical wise, the silhouette of the swan was captured properly. I would suggest a lower angle and also to keep the horizon in view. Good attempt though, keep shooting

 

[m3lv1nh0]

Just thinking out loud, since this is a silhouette, you can cut out the shape of the swan from a piece of cupboard and place it somewhere with nice background. Should be able to get a nice result with some PP. I wondered if anyone has tried that before.

 

[gelloche]

Thanks everyone for the comments! Ya, the big block does seem distracting - it's the first thing the eye gets drawn to. =) Thanks ya!