Elegant lines Shoot a stylish bird portrait

Andrew Fusek Peters explains how he emphasised the sleek lines of this swan to create one of his most iconic images

Capturing reflections of birds on water can be challenge, but the results are often worth it.

I was just starting out in photography when I framed this mute swan on Walcot Hall’s lake in Shropshire, on a dull afternoon.

I had recently learned to shoot manual with my first DSLR – a Canon EOS 650D – and had rented my first decent lens for a weekend: the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM.

I was keen to explore the birdlife on my local lake, and conditions were perfect. For a good reflection shot you need very little wind. I have walked at this lake many times over the years; once in a while the water is so still that it acts like a mirror.

The image stabilisation on the lens and the slow drifting of the swan meant I could dial in a fairly slow shutter speed and not make the ISO too excessive (1/160 sec at f/5.6, ISO 800). After that, I just had to get the exposure right to capture the swan’s white feathers.

I already understood that with a dark background, the camera would try to compensate, and highlights on the swan’s feathers could easily blow. I wanted to make the background disappear, so I waited for the swan to drift into a shady part of the lake with some overhanging branches, then I dialled down the exposure until the swan was perfectly exposed.

When I imported the picture into Lightroom, I hardly needed to do any work, except crop into the swan and bring down Blacks and Shadows slightly, followed by some sharpening. Here is double the beauty for the price of a single shutter click! The result is one of my most popular and iconic images, which has also made a best-selling greetings card.