[gordon]

    This is my first submission and was taken a few days ago near my home. I have recently purchased a polarising filter and am amazed at the richness of colour this creates.

[Dean]

Polarising filters certainly make a big difference. You have caught the swan’s movement well but, on my screen, the whites of the back of the swan look a little burnt out. Overall the image is well exposed, its just that patch on the back. I don’t know whether you have cropped the original image but could have done with a little more at the bottom, to show the complete reflection. And its always recognised as preferable to have a bit more image for the bird to be swimming into, on the right in this case.

[gordon]

Polarising filters certainly make a big difference. You have caught the swan’s movement well but, on my screen, the whites of the back of the swan look a little burnt out. Overall the image is well exposed, its just that patch on the back. I don’t know whether you have cropped the original image but could have done with a little more at the bottom, to show the complete reflection. And its always recognised as preferable to have a bit more image for the bird to be swimming into, on the right in this case.

[gordon]

    Thanks again Dean for your comments, I agree that there is a degree of burnout and the reflection could have been longer. I have not touched the photo in photoshop at this stage. I attach another shot taken at the same time, this has a fuller reflection but is still burnt out. Again I was more interest in the effect of the polariser, but will be using spot metering next time. Many thanks Gordon

[Dean]

If in doubt underexpose a stop. If you are shooting in RAW you can more likely find the details in the shadows than bring the burnt out highlights back

[Don Schaeffer]

This is my first submission and was taken a few days ago near my home. I have recently purchased a polarising filter and am amazed at the richness of colour this creates.

Great shot. Seems a little tilted though.

[MrB]

These are nice images, Gordon, except for the need for a bit more space to the right of the swan in the first. It is possible that the over-bright areas could be recovered in your original images. Those areas still contain different white tones, so that even these tiny Jpegs respond favorably to the Recovery slider in ACR, e.g. -

   

[EdMak]

Have you a before, to see the filter difference. were you on auto or manual focus. Try composing the second one as upright? Ed.

[gordon]

Have you a before, to see the filter difference. were you on auto or manual focus. Try composing the second one as upright? Ed.

Sorry no before shots, all taken with polariser, I have now set my camera to bracket exposure by 1 stop either way to see if this improves image.