This swan at the moated castle in Glücksburg close to the Danish border was patient enough so I could take some nice portraits of him. Maybe he wanted to keep us as far aways from his wife, too – she was sitting on a nest full of eggs when we were there.

Shooting bright white subjects in front of darker backgrounds always is a challenge for the camera. Here I used it to my advantage, making the water almost black and letting the swan pop out. In color this would have looked overprocessed, but for black and white it creates just the look I wanted.

Photo data: Pentax K100D, 50-200 mm lens at 138 mm, f7.1, 1/200 second and ISO 200.