Burrowing Owl Landing

[Tom Redd]

Nikon D4
500 f/4 + 1.4 x TC
1/2500
f/8
0.33 ev
ISO 640

Thank you for looking.

[Gen Benjamin]

Very nice light and wonderful detail. You don't mention the iso, I'm curious as I recently bought a d4 and have been amazed at the high iso capabilities
Gen

[Tom Redd]

Gen, thank you. I have edited it. 640 ISO

[gail bisson]

I really like the light and the pose. IQ and sharpness are very good.
I like the 2 flower heads in LRC but would lighten or clone out the OOF green foliage on the lower right.
I am not fond of all that space to the left so if this isn't a big crop I would trim a whole lot from the left hand side. I can see why you left that amount of space on the right to showcase the flowers but an argument could be made to crop tighter from the right as well and make this a vertical.
Gail

[Tom Redd]

Gail, good suggestions, here is a repost.

[Andrew Merwin]

IMHO, I think the RP is too tight. I like the fore ground elements in the OP & the sky around the owl. Excellent techs. TFS.

[Rachel Hollander]

Tom - I prefer the horizontal to the vertical but do agree that you can take some of the space off the lhs. Nice wing position, sharpness and colors.

TFS,
Rachel

[dankearl]

This is a really nice flight pose you have, Tom.
I think horiz. crop is the way to go if you can.
The bird would look nicer a bit larger in the frame.

[PhilCook]

Guess I'm on my own with my thoughts...but I dislike the tall grass stalk, although I think it works better in the re post in vertical aspect with possibly a bit more cropped off the top to make the bird bigger in the frame. The ligh looks great as does the powder blue backdrop

[gail bisson]

I like the vertical but just a bit looser- say 5 % more on left
Gail

[Wynand van Wyk]

I think the vertical works better for me as well. Lovely detail on the owl and great light!! Well captured indeed.

[Tom Redd]

Here is a repost with the crop suggestions, I may have given it too much to the left. I had thought about cropping it is this was on the first repost, but it gives it an unconventional crop ratio and I wasn't sure how big of a deal that is. I do like it larger in the frame.

Phil, you are not alone, I too wish that there was more than just a single stalk for it to perch on, but that is what it was. There is not a lot to perch on near this colony.

Thank you all for the feedback.

[Gen Benjamin]

Repost is excellent

[Tom Redd]

Thank you Gen and I really like your signature quote! :S3:

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Tom, timing incoming landing poses arent easy, so you have done exceptionally well capturing the full wingspread in this. Comp wise, I feel if you leave the OP, but come up from the bottom inline with the top of the green OOF foliage.

[Jim Crosswell]

I really like the image Tom. Here is an alternative that might work. This was done quickly by free transforming the Owl, sky, stalk and bringing it down some. The stalk is a little shorter now.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very neat landing pose...did it actually land, and did the stalk hold up? I'm liking the vertical here but one option to explore, if you are open to such modification, is to bring into it via clone stamp the tow OOF flowers in the LRC of the OP. Just a digitally thinking thought :-) Lots and lots of options here as already demonstrated!

[Tom Redd]

Jim and Daniel, good thinking.

Jim, your idea solved my biggest dilemmas of the OP, if you don't have some of grass and OOF flowers of the lower portion of the OP, then the image is just a flight shot with a stalk sticking up oddly in the frame. By lowering the owl, you made the photo much more interesting from an environment standpoint. I feel the perch by itself is a bit sterile looking. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Daniel, it did land and the stalk did hold.

[Tom Redd]

Daniel, here is my interpretation of your idea, with a bit more OOF foliage - it might be too much. Thank you, again.

[Robert Holguin]

Terrific shot. Love the landing pose, especially the wing position. Very nice light, great background, and I really like your last repost.
Very well done.