Blending in with your environment

[Steve Kaluski]

Well after many months I have managed to find these guys again, this is one of the three owlets from last year, of which at least two have survived, sadly I cannot find or locate the parents, or the other owlet, but hopefully these two will continue. Took a few days to accept me and again build the confidence in allowing me in on their 'patch'. A lot of hours have gone in so far (too many to count, with very early starts), just to get to this stage, plus light & the location are not always conducive in creating the shots I'm after, but time will tell.

Close by I found an old telegraph pole which they have enjoyed foregoing in, plenty of bugs & beetles to feed on and display some of their 'humorous' behavioural aspects from time to time. The old Willow tree has a small hollow on the side, it shelters them from the 'ripping wind' that was about recently and makes for a good vantage point in surveying their territory. It also makes for excellent camouflage so they blend in with their environment.

Thanks to those who swung by on the previous posting and or left a reply, cheers.

Cheers
Steve

Subject: Little owl in tree hollow (Athene noctua)
Camera: Canon 1DX
Lens: 500f/4 plus 2x Gitzo head/Uniqball head
Exposure: 1/250s at f/8 ISO1600 +1 EV Comp ​

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

This is a superb image Steve! The owl blends in so well. I love the visible claw and the captivating eye. Great work!
cheers,
Sanjeev

[Marina Scarr]

Love how the owlet blends in and the prominent tootsie and eye are great to help anchor the image. I would have preferred to see the owlet somewhere other than in the middle..maybe upper left...but not sure whether that was possible. THese guys are just masters at camouflage.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Steve - I really love this as it gives a sense of peering into the owlet's world. Excellent detail and sharpness despite somewhat slow ss. I see a slight amount of cyan/blue but it may be natural? Glad you found these guys again and looking forward to seeing more of them.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi folks, Sanjeev, nice to hear from you again, thought you may have been eaten!!! :bg3:

Marina, I know what you mean, I too would prefer that, but with only the one FP I tend to place it bang on the eye, I never recompose after locking the focus/exp, just me, but a draw back. I also always try to work with longer lenses to give the subject a nice comfort zone in the early days before either going a little closer, or ideally, they feel confident to come to me. The last two days were with the 200-400 which was nice.

LOL Rachel, yep there is a slight hint of Blue, but that I feel is OK within the plumage, yes there will be more to come, sadly!!!! :tinysmile_shy_t:

Cheers
Steve

[Daniel Cadieux]

Glad you found them again as I really enjoyed your series last year. I really like the texture of the tree, and as processed the camo really shows well. I imagine the image was destaurated some by you, neat treatment.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

I love it, Steve! I don't know if you've done it in PP somehow, but you've managed to have ONLY the bird in focus which looks quite impressive, to say the least. B&W works very well here to let the bird blend in perfectly with its surroundings. Great shot!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Steve, great 'peering' pose, and great that we can see one of the feet. Camouflage is an understatement. :w3

[Steve Kaluski]

I imagine the image was destaurated some by you, neat treatment.

Hi Daniel, no destauration, it's almost as is, bar balancing the mid grey (gray) point. I think as the light was minimal & not lighting both tree & subject it almost conveys that 'monochromatic' look and bordering on Tobie's suggestion of B/W. To me just having that colour in the eye makes it, again, no adjustment of colour. A lot of people move it towards a bright deep yellow, at this stage they are a nice soft lemon. In the hi res you actually can see the undulations, they are not flat/smooth, the yellow has texture to it.

Thanks
Steve

[keith mitchell]

Steve it looks spot on ! to these eyes of mine,superb feather detail.

Cheers Keith.

[William Dickson]

What is everyone looking at? I can't see the bird :eek3: :cheers:

[Bill Dix]

Wonderful shot. I, too, like the almost monochromatic look and the great camo. Nice sharp focus on the eye. I'm somewhat amazed that you don't ever focus/recompose. Try it sometime.

[arash_hazeghi]

he blends well with the environment

[Binu John]

Wonderful shot! From the thumbnail, I couldn't even figure out it's an Owl! Very nice composition!

[David Salem]

Nice capture Steve. I like the detail in the owl and the detail in the tree. Almost looks like a B&W shot besides the eyes. Nice example of how cryptic they really are. Techs look great too. Well done

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks folks, sadly more to come I hope in the coming months. Doubt if these are a breeding pair, a little you I think?

:wave:

[Iain Barker]

Love the monochrome look of the image it takes a few seconds to realise that it's not B&W. Fantastic image.

[Troy Lim]

Love the environmental type shot like this one.