With longer days returning, I'm finally able to get in 30 minutes or so of shooting before and after work. This week I spent one afternoon with a half dozen Trumpeter Swans visiting a local lake. One of the swans is banded, and from what I gathered from the DNR, is less than a year old.
Unfortunately the lighting was very difficult shooting with the sun in front of the subject. I'm still relatively new to the world of post-processing, and this is only my second photo post, so CC and pointers are very welcome.
The second is stunning, the blur is acceptable. To get your exposures it looks like you exposed for the shadows and allowed the highlights to louse detail. That is a common approach backlight or rim light. I love to work with this type of light and expose for the highlights and fill in the shadows with flash. This takes a powerful flash and if your subject is outside of typical flash distance you need a flash extender such as the Better Beamer. Besides getting good exposures of the highlight an shadow areas, this method will also produce catch light in the eyes which will help bring your subject to life. You can see samples on my web site in the birds section.
Morris is the FlashMaster Scott, so I'd take his word for it. 2 is my pick too, and I find the slight blur acceptable. However, if it bothers you, you could have easily shot with that lens wide open and then used a faster ss. Your lens should be tack sharp at f5.6 ~ Ron
