Spectacled Owl in Costa Rica

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

This is a sub adult spectacled owl, is among the most widely spread owls in Costa Rica and is relatively easy to locate them while they roots on a branch during the day time.
Despite the use of a wide aperture and a high ISO I was not able to get a decent shutter speed, I guess I just have to learn to live with it here in the tropics! not complaining just that it is very challenging at times,
especially when you are using large manifications, even the smallest vibration can cause motion blur and blurry images!

For this one

Mark IV
600f/4+1.4TC@f/5.6
ISO2500
EV +1
SS 1/40
Very small crop for compo.
I used manual fill flash at 1/32

All comments and suggestions on how to improve the image is highly appreciated.

[Jeff Maw]

Hey Juan,

I have enjoyed your work for awhile and hope to take one of your and Don's tours.

I have a question on this picture concerning crop. Why did place the bird closer to the center? It seems a bit to the right for me but I am still trying to learn.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Thanks Jeff for commenting! it would be great to have you in one of our tours/workshops! :)

I composed this image in camera and like I said, is almost FF. The reason why I placed the bird closer to the right and centered was because the darker leaves in the back ground all are pointing the bird as to me, he is the star
of the show. When I find such cooperative bird, I like to experiment with different compositions, in this case I shot the bird with the 600f/4 bare, also with the 1.4TC and with the 2XTC but I believe that my favorite images where the ones I made
using the 1.4TC as it gave me a good compromise between shutter speed and size of the bird in the frame. I also made some images in landscape mode so I will be posting some of those in these days.

Thanks again for looking and commenting. :)

[Stu Bowie]

Hi JC, good eye contact here, and nicely in the open considering the location. I quite like the off center placement, and if anything, I would clean up some of the tiny catchlights.

[Jim Crosswell]

A real beauty Juan! I like the pose, setting, exposure, details and composition. I would love to see this owl one day.