Stately Snowy

[Mark Needham]

Image:

Snowy Owl
Boundary Bay, Canada.
January 2013.

This wild snowy owl was photographed at Boundary Bay in British Columbia, Canada. This owl was sitting atop some driftwood and tree stumps in a marsh relatively close to shore. It had snowed a few days earlier and some remaining snow was still frozen on the moss covered stump. It was a heavily overcast and cloudy day, but for a few moments, just enough light came through the clouds to allow me to capture the iconic yellow eyes for which this species is renowned (luckily the owl also opened its eyes at that same time, after having a long snooze). The vivid colors of the moss, as well as the frozen snow and ice on the stump adds a nice environmental context to this scene. Wild, not baited, no compositional elements changed.

An original processed version of this image was posted on my 500px page about a year ago, but I have just done a major overhaul on the processing given that I have learned tons about the world of processing since this time. This is the revised version.

Equipment:

Canon 60D camera (I have since upgraded to the 5D Mark 3).
Canon 500 f4 Mark II lens.
F5.6, 1/800, ISO 250.
manual mode.
spot focus.
Jobu Jr gimbal head, Oben tripod.

Post processing:

Lightroom 5.6: basic global adjustments, crop, etc.
Nik Viveza: a few minor targeted adjustments.
Nik Color Efex: slight tonal contrast filter.
Photoshop CS6: additional targeted adjustments using luminosity masks, D&B, selective color enhancement, resized and sharpened using Hougaard Malan’s actions (although I had to "reverse engineer" a few things in these actions for this image).
edited on a color calibrated NEC P241W monitor.

As always, comments and critique welcomed!

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Mark, the snowy looks great with good details on the white. i'd suggest brighten the eyes a tad to give the image some lift. Personally I feel there is just a bit too much of the perch and would suggest consider a vertical crop. TFS. Loi

[Dumay de Boulle]

I think the exposure and the eyes are perfect. I actually like the comp with the large perch added in but if you do have enough pixels I would try a portrait and see what it looks like...Nice one Mark!

[Randy Stout]

Mark:

A very appealing image, well handled, with great display of those charismatic eyes.

Looking at the forms of the lighter bird and the darker stumps, and the closer position of the left most stump, I would agree with Loi about cropping from the left to rebalance the image a bit. Even such a minor thing as removing the twig sticking up from the stump on the left would help rebalance the image in favor of the bird a bit more.

Very well captured, with room for a little tweaking if desired.

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

The perch is indeed large, but I find the composition well balanced. Nice mix of mosses and snow. If anything, I'd try to tone down or near eliminate the oof white snow behind the subject (I imagine repositioning yourself in the field to hide those was risky).

[Joe Senzatimore]

Love it as is. The comp puts this one in a category all it's own. SWEET,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Mark, know the location well, you were lucky to get some snow too, hope they come back next year as Daniel had them all to himself last year on the East coast, perhaps I should stop off on route and pay a visit? :bg3:

Like the colours and moss/lichen on the log, but would agree on loosing the broken twig on the LHS poking above. No idea on the 60D, but I think you could get a bit more tonal detail out of the subject, especially the head which would add more form & definition to the plumage.

TFS
Steve

[Richard Flack]

Lovely image Mark, these are incredible owls! Don't have much more to add than what has already been said. TFS

[Mark Needham]

Hi Mark, know the location well, you were lucky to get some snow too, hope they come back next year as Daniel had them all to himself last year on the East coast, perhaps I should stop off on route and pay a visit? :bg3:

TFS
Steve

Hi Steve -- Yeah, that area is great for both snowys and especially short-eared owls (SEOs), as well as bald eagles in winter time. Early 2013 was really rocking there, but last year (early 2014) was much slower with only a few snowys and SEOs. Next time you are in the area, let me know - would be great to photograph together. It is only a 6-hour drive for me from Oregon, and my family live in the area so I always have a free place to stay :bg3:

[Mark Needham]

Hi Everyone :wave:

Awesome feedback - thanks so much, everyone! I stared at this one for so long that I couldn't see straight anymore, so I really appreciate the extra eyes and guidance. That's the great thing about photography - always learning! Anyway, here is a revision and here is what I did:
- lightened the eyes to give it more "pop" (thanks, Loi).
- removed the broken branch on the left to give the image better balance and perspective (thanks, Randy and Steve).
- toned down the brightest OOF snow highlights in the background near the owl, and also lightened the darkest OOF "blobs" in the background (thanks, Daniel) (removing these altogether proved to be a challenge to do "cleanly" so I just toned them down dramatically).
- added more tonal contrast to reveal more detail in the owl (thanks, Steve) (wish I had my 5D3 at the time, as it would have given me more dynamic range and room to play with to push detail even farther).

I chose not to crop from the left mainly because I did this in my earlier version posted to 500px last year, and it never felt "balanced" to me. Somehow, lessening the crop and placing the owl smack on the "rule of thirds" lines seems to have balanced the image better in my view. But, no doubt removing the branch has helped dramatically.

So, WDYT? Am I getting closer to a final image here?

Cheers! :cheers:

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Mark, tend to be there whilst passing through on route to Whistler for the annual snow fix. I tend to hook up with another BPN member who lives in Vancouver, will let you know, fingers crossed they do come over for 2015.

Our postings crossed, the RP rocks, excellent and well worth the invested time in PP, amazed you could go to ISO250, it's always been much higher for me, LOL. Yes a cracking location for SEO & harriers.

All the best.
Steve

[gail bisson]

Hi Mark,
I think that the repost has addressed all the issues I had with the OP.I think the comp is perfect.I am glad you did not change it,
Gail