"Pic-of-the-Day, 9-10-11"

(Written 9/5/11 by ChristopherK2 for the Nice MDers Over 35 blog)

We are lucky here in Hagerstown to have several permanent sets of gorgeous swans in our city park. But they are a struggle to photograph because they're soooooooooooooo white. That is one thing a camera struggles with far more than the human eye. Unless you're VERY careful with your camera, it will turn large parts of the swan into blobs of pure white that lack any detail.

There are several ways to cope with that, and this pic shows one way. It was taken in a fairly shady area, thereby lessening the normal contrast. Then when you edit it, you can keep dialing up the contrast and brightness until just before the highlights start to blow out.

Another trick I used here is a visual one, which fools the human brain. The swan is in the dead center of the pic, but doesn't look like it. The slanted rock at the bottom seemingly "pushes" the swan towards the upper right, as does the submerged diagonal walkway. And the off-center lighter green reflections "pull" the swan to the right.

As I mentioned to you, I often walk around a subject for several minutes before taking the shot. After doing that for a long time, you develop a good "feel" for photos. I shot this one very quickly because I knew the swan might move along at any moment, I loved the reflected light, and I knew the large rock would look good.