Great Horned Owlet, another approach

[Bill Dix]

Here's another take on the owlets that Geoffrey and I photographed the other day. Since I couldn't easily evict the twig that was sticking up in front of the LH bird's eye, I decided to evict the LH owlet instead. No, the sibling didn't push him out of the nest; his eviction is entirely my responsibility. But in fact, we had a report yesterday that one of them was seen out of the nest, so we're headed back up there tomorrow morning to see what they're up to, under hopefully better lighting conditions.

D7200, 500f4 + 1.4, ISO 800, 1/1250s @ f/8 manual, TTL @ -0.7.

[Bill Dewey]

Nice, and relatively quick, "eviction" process. Out of curiosity did you try to evict the branches with Content Aware Fill in Photoshop? I have had pretty good results at times, other times utter disaster.

[Marina Scarr]

Great opportunity to photograph a young great horned owl. It's too bad the light and stick material wasn't in your favor. This happened to me last week, and I felt as though my hands were tied. The feathers on the owlet's side appear a bit crunchy.

[Doug Brown]

That's a tough one Bill. Lighting is a challenge and the twigs are a little distracting. Also your maximum focus seems to be on the sticks in front of the bird, leaving the eyes a little soft. Keep working the nest and as the owlets get bigger, the twigs get pushed around (and perhaps out of your way).