Short eared owl

[Jonathan Ashton]

Tripod, mongoose head, Canon 7D Canon 500mm f4 L IS.
This guy gave me the slip and then came a little closer so I removed the 1.4TC, he disappeared from view only to come from behind me and do an en face so I managed to focus quickly but alas I was quite a bit underexposed, I knew it but I didn't want to lose focus so I took what I could.
I increased exposure on the bird significantly in ACR whilst lowering the highlights which I also reduced in Photoshop. I also selected the sky and using curves in the centre of the single peak I just lowered the value, this lowered the overall brightness and enhanced contrast a little.
As a consequence the image is a little more noisy than I would have liked but I will value your opinions please.
(I did apply light NR to the bird and heavier to the sky. I tried more on the bird also but this did not seem to help.)


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[Karl Egressy]

Great incoming flight shot, Jonathan. I might want to take of a bit from the to, as it is almost centered.
I don't see that the noise is an issue, but my eyesight is not the best.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Jonathan

Very nice capture and timing! Wonderful that you got the shot of him coming straight at you. I can't notice much of any noise, except on the wing tips - but then just barely.

Would love to see this as a 16:9 crop, taking off a bit off the top. It also looks like you could take a bit off the left so that the left and right wings are exactly the same distance from the edge.

Miguel

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Sweet facial expression . love the incoming straight on pose

[Alan Murphy]

Love the face on flight angle.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very nice owl and pose! I would give this one a more pano crop, but is fine as presented!

[John Cooper]

Love the head-on stare here Jonathon. Your PP on the exposure looks fine to me - well done.

[christopher galeski]

nice image Jonathan,well captured,I can see a touch of noise in the bird on my screen,but its not a lot.thanks.

[David Salem]

Great coming at you shot. Looks good on the noise over here. Maybe play with the cropping but looks good centered too. Nice job..

[Lorant Voros]

Super image, Jon. I don't see the problem with the ISO as a result of cranking up the exposure. I would also play with the idea of the pano crop. Very well done.

[Melissa Groo]

Fantastic head on image, Jonathan. I'd be thrilled to have taken this. I think you did very well in your post processing. I'd be interested too to see a bit cropped off the top. But lovely as is.

[Marina Scarr]

Love the symmetry to this one. That right at you pose is just amazing. I did notice the noise when I first opened the picture. I think if you did some NR on the BG only, it would alleviate the problem. This image really rocks, Jonathan!!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Jon, I bet your were pleasantly surprised when you saw this on your LCD screen. :w3 Great eye contact, symmetry, and your pp work looks good. Love the hint of clouds in the sky BG. Well captured.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice head on view, and great eye contact as a result.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thank you very much to everyone for your C&C I really appreciate your comments and advice.