Florida Burrowing Owls

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image in southwest Florida a couple years ago, I worked it up recently. I know the background is not what would be hoped for but with work in Lightroom and Photoshop it is as best as can be. I used F/8 because the left owl was a little forward of the owl peeking from the burrow. I thought I needed it for both to be is sharp focus. I could not go lower because then the owl peeking would be blocked by a slight mound and vegetation. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 VR AF-S ED shot at 300mm (450mm FFE)
1/400 F/8 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 250 AWB
Post processed in Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Grace Scalzo]

These owls are not easy to get in the clear. In that they live in burrows, I'm not too bothered by the grass blades in front of the one. I do think that the owl on the left is dark against the bright background and some processing might help.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Joseph, I can see your BG issue, trying to get both owls in sharp focus while wanting to blur the BG. I think the only way to throw the BG OOF focus would be to get lower. Even had you shot at F5.6, I suspect you would find the BG a bit too close to the owl. Loi