Theme: Short-eared Owl.

[Karl Egressy]

I hint of snow on the ground signaled that winter was around the corner.
The date was 11/11/2008.
We were driving around on deserted country roads, looking for Snowy Owls.
As daylight was fading away, I decided to turn towards home.
At that point two medium sized dark birds crossed the road in front of the car and one landed on my side, not far from us.
Here he/she is:

Canon 30D
Canon 500 f 4.0 L IS
ISO 800
f4.0
1/200 s
HH from car.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Love the head tilt checking you out, Karl. Needless to say it was great timing to head for home. Beautiful end of day light on this great looking owl. Patches of snow on clumpy soil perfect setting.

Geoffrey

[gail bisson]

Your old files are producing some amazing beauties.
Really like the cocked head.Those big eyes and feet make this image.
I would crop this up from the bottom to above your signature to get rid of the OOF stuff in LLC.
Did you do a bit of cloning to the left of the owl? If you did I would smooth that area out a little bit.
What a cutie patootie!
gail

[Karl Egressy]

Your old files are producing some amazing beauties.
Really like the cocked head.Those big eyes and feet make this image.
I would crop this up from the bottom to above your signature to get rid of the OOF stuff in LLC.
Did you do a bit of cloning to the left of the owl? If you did I would smooth that area out a little bit.
What a cutie patootie!
gail
Thanks, Gail. Here is a slightly different crop that takes care of the OOF vegetation.
Did I clone? I don't remember, it was a long time ago. Original image suggest I did not but can't be sure.

[Grace Scalzo]

That pose is killer! Great composition in the repost. I can't put the two side by side to compare, but the bg of the repost looks darker and more even, and I like it better. Thanks for sharing this oldie but goodie, Karl.

[annmpacheco]

That face is charming, glad you dusted this off. i agree on cropping the bottom a bit and i too like the repost, bit more intense, sweet indeed!

[dankearl]

The Owl stare is really good, way worth keeping (which you did).
The habitat does not do much for me, but I still like this.

[William Dickson]

The HA and stare makes this image for me Karl. Coming across something like this makes it all worthwhile. Fine image.

Will

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Karl, I love these quirky HA owls provide, they are so endearing IMHO.

I am leaning towards Dan's comment that the environment isn't 'great', but if this is where they hunt, so be it. Personally I might have gone to 0 EV and then worry about the snow in PP, just to add a fraction more SS from 1/250. The BKG does appear to be patchy/blotchy similar to Dan's posting a few days ago, the RP also appears darker than the OP, but the RP crop seems to push the image to the right looking unbalance IMHO. If you crop LHS then crop a bit more, but leave as much space to the right.

TFS
Steve

[keith mitchell]

Karl it's all a matter of taste but the OP does it all for me ,spent a fair bit of time trying photograph these birds and would have been very pleased to get an image like this, love that pose.

Keith.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Karl, gotta love that inquisitive head turn, and showing both eyes perfectly. No one has mentioned it, but I would bring out more 'exposure on the Owl - just a touch. Comp wise your OP is getting there, just take a bit off the LHS now. :w3

[Gerald Gardebled]

good picture of this short-eared in its habitat. Nice touch with the head position.

[Jim Crosswell]

Great image Karl! I like the pose, quizzical look, habitat and composition in the repost works for me.