Florida Burrowing Owl

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image of a Florida Burrowing Owl on top of the mound that the burrow is dug into in Cape Coral, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/1250 F/5.6 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 250 AWB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 10, cloned out an out of focus rope in the background, removed a discarded cigarette filter from the top of the mound
Cropped for composition and presentation

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Joe,
I have been photographing BO's a for a while here is some advice : try to photograph earlier in the day or later in the afternoon when the light isn't so harsh, the shadows in the pupil can become very distracting since those yellow eyes are the dominant feature of this bird.

Also try to capture him when he is looking at the camera, the symmetrical view of both eyes is often stronger than the side view. It's tough because they often look around but every once in a while he will look right at you and that's the best time to pull the trigger!

TFS

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks Arash, will take your advice to heed. Thank you for viewing, commenting and offering advice.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Very good advice given Joe!

Nice perspective, but image is suffering due to light and other factors as mentioned.

TFS