First zoo trip

[Guiney12343]

First real attempt at wildlife photos taken while at the zoo recently, this was my favorite one. Looking for general critiques, lighting, compostition, color saturation, etc... To me it appears the details have been washed out on the arch of his back, any suggestions for future opportunities to avoid this as much as possible, the sun was high in the sky and slightly behind him. I know a lot of you dont like clicking out to third party websites, but cant figure out how to embed images into posts, sorry but thanks to those that do have a look!

Swan Song | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

EXIF
Canon XSI
Shutter 1/320
Aperature 5.6
ISO 100
No Flash

[forknuts]

Firstly, I'm a novice so let's call this feedback rather than a critique.
I think you're right in saying that the detail on the arch of the swan's back has been washed out - perhaps you could try under exposing to retain that detail and use PS or similar to bring out the shadow areas?
I'm not sure if it's just my eyes, but the bird looks a little fuzzy. If you shot this hand-held, a faster shutter speed might have helped.
It would have been great if you had been able to get the shot with the sun behind you to eliminate the shadows on the face and neck, but short of jumping in the pond there's not much you can do there. I love the relection of the bird in the water ripples and think it could have been cool to frame the shot with the whole of the reflection visible.
But I like it, and in the end I reckon that's all that really matters.
cheers,
Adam

[Krusty79]

Welcome to DPS. There is too much dynamic range in this shot for your camera sensor to capture all of it. So, the white back has some blown out areas. If you could have taken this in the shade, that would have made things a lot easier.

If you shot RAW, you might be able to make one jpg for the back and another for the rest of him/her. You can try to PP the back to darken it.

It's usually not ideal to center your subject in the frame also. It's almost always better to compose the shot so your subject is entering the frame, not in the middle and definitely not about the exit the frame.

If you get a Flickr account, it's easy to post your images - Posting Photos from Flickr [July 2010 Update]

Keep shooting and practicing!