Another view of Mr. owl

[arash_hazeghi]

One more BO frame. I like his eyelashes!

116509

1D4 700mm f/5.6 1/3200sec ISO 1250

see HD size here (http://ari1982.smugmug.com/Avian/Raptors/Burrowing-Owl/23449684_vg7h2C#%21i=1905144583&k=pd8v6D2&lb=1&s=O)

[Sachin Saraf]

Arash, you captured this one in sweet light...Love the inclusion of habitat and how that Owl stands out of the surrounding. Techs are perfect as always and that HD image puts that owl right in front of you. Excellent work. Along with NR do you apply slight Gaussian blur on BG? your BG looks super smooth and helps bird stand out. TFS

[arash_hazeghi]

Arash, you captured this one in sweet light...Love the inclusion of habitat and how that Owl stands out of the surrounding. Techs are perfect as always and that HD image puts that owl right in front of you. Excellent work. Along with NR do you apply slight Gaussian blur on BG? your BG looks super smooth and helps bird stand out. TFS

Thanks Sachin,

Regarding BG blur, I never apply Gaussian blur to BG. The BG blur that results from the aperture blades of the lens is not mathematically Guassian so applying guassian blur will make the photo look unnatural and artificial. In fact I always advise people not to use Guassian blur on the BG. To get a nice smooth BG you have to get it in-camera. I use wide open aperture and long FL to achieve this.

I do apply NR to the BG to take out the noise.

[Maya Raut]

Hi Arash,

Yes, his eyelashes are beautiful and stare is really killer. I like the pose, light, details and sharpness. Excellent as always. That HD image is real treat.

- Maya

[Bill Dix]

Terrific look from Mr. Owl. Wonderful light, and the HD version is spectacular.

[Aidan Briggs]

The fantastic light, low angle, and dynamic pose make this one. Maybe a small crop from the right to center the owl perfectly?

Well done

[PhilCook]

Agree his wise old Owl lashes are great as are the half closed eyes, I confess to wondering if the color tones on the background are a bit colorful/orange

[gail bisson]

The light is lovely.
Composition is often a subjective taste issue but I would take a bit off the bottom and right hand side. I feel a central placement of the owl would look great because of the direct gaze.
IQ is great as uausal,
Gail

[arash_hazeghi]

thanks everyone for nice comments/suggestions, the warm tones are from evening light. (around 8PM).

[David Salem]

Great evening light. Tack sharp subject and good comp. I shoot allot of burrowing owls and the most important thing is correct head angle. Both eyes lit without shadows. Perfect job.

Dave

[Dumay de Boulle]

Great surroundings and I like the shooting angle. Lovely clors, over all...Very nice Arash!

[Ken Watkins]

Arash,

I think the use of "WOW" is totally acceptable for this image.

[Markus Jais]

Great capture. Stunning light. I love the low angle and the eye contact.

Markus

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Great light and low angle. I like the eye contact as well.

[Frank Schauf]

Perfect, with great eye contact.