Swan B&W...feedback please

[CMaxim Photography]

Hello everyone. Let me start by saying I am a week into my photography career and this is one of my first nature shots. In PP I cropped the photo and converted to B&W. I would love some feedback on composition, PP technique and whatever else you may come up with. Thanks for looking!

Nikon D3000
18-55m Nikkor VR f3.5
1/125s f5.6
55m (ISO 100)
No flash fired

[tjdhulst]

The swan is in the middle of the frame so that is kind of boring.

Two suggestions to correct can be either putting the swan on the right or the left of the frame. Putting it on the right will create more room in front of it giving the viewer a sense of where the swan is going. Putting the swan on the left with room behind and capturing more of it's wake with give us a sense of where it's coming from. I like the black and white though.

[CMaxim Photography]

I see what you mean on having the swan in the center of the frame. I took this before I had knowledge on the rule of thirds. I don't have much room to play with it from R to L and L to R, but I will see what I can come up with. Thanks.

[Mattj]

It would be nice to see a little more detail in the swan, a nice reflector or playing around with a curves filter in Photoshop could correct this. I also would suggest adding a little noise to the image. B&W images always look a little nicer with it...maybe 2 or 3 pixels. I agree with the cropping ideas...it always helps to use the rule of thirds.