A Mute Swan, a Coot, and a Robin??

The 1st shot is ok, but it is what it is if you know what i mean. It's a picture of a swans head, and it needs a little more to add interest, and the light bit of grass touching the end of the beak is a bit distracting.
2nd shot is easily my favourite, the coot is nicely positioned in the frame, and as opposed to the swan shot, in this, the great texture and pattern of the ice really makes this much better. The head is a a bit over exposed, and the body is underexposed, but in such strong light like this, there is nothing you can really do about that, and i think you've got a good balance between the 2 extremes. Well done!
I can identify with shot number 3. Sometimes i see a bird, and i just want to shoot it before it's gone. As you get a little more experience, you'll find it's worth risking the bird flying off while you move in order to get a better less distracting background.
Overall, well done, a lot better then my 1st efforts at bird photography!
 
Thanks for your comments Tony, much appreciated.
I can see exactly what you mean with your critique, something to take forward in future.
 
Good first 'proper shots'. I really like the coot and robin-both nice and sharp.We've all been there-after a variety of cc comments you'll know what to look for-like that piece of reed in the background that's by the swan's beak as pointed out by Tony. I'd crop some in on that too and definitely crop in from the right side on the robin... too much irrelevant shrub.I'd crop in to just before the leaves, maybe even a bit up from the bottom too. What you can do to see what it would look like is to get a piece of paper and place it over where you think a crop would be beneficial-try it with the right side crop on the robin.

Re. the advice about getting near-the other advice you could get is to get the shot then if you can get nearer do so but Tony's thinking is it would hear the shutter and be off. I was on my stomach on a cliff top in Cornwall last November photographing a juv. Wheatear and took a shot, crawled forward a few feet, waited motionless,moved very slowly forward again, just a few more feet and so on until it flew off. It's a nice photo- a lovely bird, I'll dig it out and post it.
 
1. I would have cropped this one much tighter. (see my photo below, spoiled by a Mallard in the background)
2. A bit too much background on the LHS for me.
3. I would like to see a portrait crop with the RH margin just to the right of the D shaped branch. I think then the branches would frame the Robin nicely.

Len

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Lol..It keeps me fit,Tony. I'll get it on today then. I think an adult would have been off a bit sooner than this juvenile.I could 'see' it thinking-'what's that on the ground getting nearer and nearer, am I safe here ?'. I was also very lucky to have a kestrel hover right above us and quite low too outside the cottage we stay in down there. I'll post that photo too. I mentioned the other day that I thought the photos had to be current but I see some that have been taken a while ago.The sunrise light at one village I went to at the same time-November last- was stunning- whether the photo does it justice or not is another matter though.I'll dig that one out too.

I like close-ups of swans...pretty inconsiderate of the mallard though lol.
 
This head shot of a swan i took a couple of months ago seems to fit this thread!

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