Ray on large it seems as the focus is on the back end of the bird rather than the eye - I'm sure your software will confirm point of focus, saying that these birds didn't hang about and it is a well timed capture, a bonus with food, good colour and pleasing b/g - Ina

Colin I'm afraid I'm going against the flow of comments as well - unfortunately the whites / higlights is blown on this shot - they are attractive birds but on a bright day you have to compensate for exposure, as for the crop may I suggest next time you go try a side on capture & crop to the rule of thirds with a highlight in the eye - so important in bird photography, sorry this is meant as advise and not critism - Ina

Keep at it Jean and you'll get the required results - unless you've got muscles like the incredible hulk get a tripod with a head that will allow you some movement - birds doesn't like sudden movements - makes them skittish and you can then set your perch up where you like and set the camera up to match - when you're putting feed out be liberal but when you're trying to shoot birds take the extra feeders down and just feed on or around your perch - that way the birds have to come to that spot and ain't flitting all over the place where you might find it difficult to follow them. The other thing to remember is to switch the VR off when you've got the camera on a tripod otherwise the lens search for movement that doesn't exist and you get blurred images as well - a very deer lesson I learned last year with my Kestrel shots. I hope these tips could be of some help - oh one more thing invest in a cable release - it reduces camera shake - even on a tripod and also the sudden movement thing. All the best Ina

Well timed capture Ann - sorry there is a but - in V2 I would suggest that you dont blurr the foreground cause it makes it look as though the swan is suspended in midair, the blurr works really well but how about uploading a version where foreground is not blurred or less blurred. Regards Ina

Ann If you don't want your brush to overspill onto the subject you can also use the magnetic lasso tool - enlarge your image and then trace the edges - got to select on the top tool bar and feather with at least 3-5 px look at your shot closely to see if you've not cut any edges of then got to select and inverse - you will see marching ants and using a large soft edge brush you can then work much quicker and more acurate, you might have to tidy up once you've saved the image by reopening it and then use a smaler brush to tidy any rough edges up - hope this helps. Cheers Ina