Hawk Owl Taking Off

[Paul Kammen]

I was working on this image trying to better adjust levels and sharpness on the face of the owl, and try to get the owl to stand out from the background. Any comments appreciated...thanks!

Canon 70D, 800MM lens, 5.6, ISO 800, 1/2000, tripod mount.

http://fatherpaul.smugmug.com/Other/Birds/i-9cVFMkR/0/X2/Hawk%20Owl%2054-X2.jpg

[John Robinson]

I reckon there is great potential here ! First of all I would take out or lighten the twig coming from the birds head going up left. I think the noise needs reducing in the background or maybe edge reducing smooth . The white twig from the lower wing needs reucing in brightness. (Maybe all the twigs in fact. Thats a lot of work but I think the angle etc of the bird is great and if you are into PP etc would be worth it .# Every one will have their different views obviouisly. The amount of PP is not what I would normally do myself but I feel the bird part of the image may warrant it.
Up to you.

Cheers
John

[Arthur Morris]

The bird is spectacular but so is the background noise.... Filter/Blur/Surface Blur would help with the noise. The branches are the branches. Toning the brighter ones down is a job. Eliminating the many distracting ones could be done but that would be huge job. You really nailed the focus.

How large a crop?

[arash_hazeghi]

the pose is very nice and dynamic but IQ has suffered unfortunately, it's a bit soft and quite noisy, looks like you had to sharpen too much.

TFS

[Marina Scarr]

Killer pose and I can see why you worked so hard on this image which I do believe CAN be improved!