My Lucky Great-horned Owl's Nest

[Marina Scarr]

This is the third consecutive year I have photographed this Great-horned Owl nest, and it never fails to produce. The nest is in the crook of a tree and, as of the day after this photo, momma only came in to feed b/c there simply wasn't enough room for all three to fit comfortably. Momma is blind in her left eye, so I was glad it didn't show in the image. Red-eye reduction was used on the adult and steel eye adjusted on the chicks.

C & C are always most welcomed and much appreciated.

Canon 500L & 2.0TC @ 1000mm
F13, 1/200sec, ISO 640, manual mode
Canon 580 with Better Beamer & Canon battery pack
Flash as main light at full power
Feisol tripod, Jobu head

[Bryan Munn]

Great photo! I really like "family" type portraits, particularly of owls. I personally am not a huge fan of flash photography, because I think it makes photos look too much "the same", but I imagine you had no choice whatsoever.

Interesting to me how the colors of your east coast GHOs are much richer than the ones I see on the west coast. Ours are much greyer and lack the rich chestnut brown.

There was a cavity in a broken off limb of a huge old oak near where I used to work. That cavity was occupied by breeding GHOs for at least 20 years.... I used to watch them whenever I could, from January through about May, every year. I have no idea how many pairs actually used the hollow during this time of course, but I guess it was a perfect location because no year was ever missed. Finally the tree itself fell in a storm and that was that.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Wow! Absolutely beautiful! You're lucky to have a site like this to photograph! Interesting that you've used a flash at 1,000mm FL. How far were you from it?

[Sidharth Kodikal]

What a gorgeous family portrait, Marina!
Your chick/family photos are some of the best in the business!
Excellent techs and great flash work. Did you mean fill flash or by "full" did you mean flash as main light?

[keith mitchell]

Marina your image says it all to me, love it!I will look forward to reading other comments re the use of your flash and hopefully learn from it.

Keith.:S3:

[Marina Scarr]

Wow! Absolutely beautiful! You're lucky to have a site like this to photograph! Interesting that you've used a flash at 1,000mm FL. How far were you from it?

I would say I was about 50 feet away. For some reason, the distance is not showing up on my Bridge metadata.

[Marina Scarr]

Did you mean fill flash or by "full" did you mean flash as main light?

This was shot with full flash as in flash as main light (not quite sure of the terminology frankly.) Due to extremely low light, I decided to use manual flash on full power, and I also used a Better Beamer and battery pack. This allowed me to stay at a low ISO and the full power flash helped to keep my subject sharp even when there was movement. I also bumped my kelvin up to to add warmth to my images in camera. While I understand this can be done in ACR after the fact, I prefer doing whatever I can in camera when shooting.

[Karl Egressy]

This is so beautiful. Marina. It is sure on e of the best family portrait of a Great Horned Owl I have ever seen. I wonder what my wife will say when she sees it as she is so fond of this type of images.
Great work with the lash and settings.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Marina, love the eye contact from the youngsters, and a great result with your flashwork. I do like the colours of all three Owls, they all blend into the surrounding tree bark nicely. Although cramped, they still look all so comfy.

[David N Smith]

Hi Marina, excellent image and capture. I like the eye contact.

David

[Danny Laredo]

Excellent family portrait.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot Marina - good work on the eyes!

[Holger Leyrer]

Stunning image Marina. Perfect for me in every way :S3:

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Marina! I like the sharpness, feather detail and composition.

[Loi Nguyen]

Lovely family portrait, Marina. Congratulations for another year of this family. TFS. Loi

[Grace Scalzo]

Such an intimate image, love mama's gaze. Wouldn't change a thing.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Beautiful family portrait. I think I know that nest, a difficult spot to photograph.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I am so green with envy girl. I haven't' gotten out to this nest at all and you nailed the shot. Great job!! Nice flash work too

[gail bisson]

It has all been said Marina. A lovely image.
Well done,
Gail

[Ashleigh Scully]

HI Marina! Congratulations what an amazing shot, and to capture it with a flash, too. There's a nice emotion to this the mother looks so tired but also proud. I love this. :)

[Satish Ranadive]

Gorgeous image of lovely little ones along with mom.Every thing is perfect in the frame. Love it.

Regards,
Satish.

[Doug Brown]

What a great family portrait! Those babies are really cute. Good sharpness throughout, but I might go a little brighter overall.

[Troy Lim]

Another great image coming from the nest. These guys are just as famous as the ones from Orlando. :)

[arash_hazeghi]

this is so cute Marina! wish it was mine