Little Owl Patrol

[shane shacaluga]

At the end of last autumn an adult pair of little owls decided my front yard was a good place to teach their sibling how to march!

They spent hours on the wooden beams of my car port looking for cockroaches to eat, but it looked like they were marching up and down.

The fun and games would start at about 1am and continue til dawn. I had ample time to get my gear and shoot them through my living room window

D800e
600mm f4 VR resting on window frame
f5
1/80
ISO 800
onboard flash fired

Cropped for composition, cloned out a few white spots on the wooden beam and darkened the pupils

Selective sharpening on subject

[John Robinson]

Thats nice !
Different sort of shot of a LO Like flash stuff in the old days. Nice large pupil.
Cheers
JohnR

[Eric Dienesch]

A nice picture.. but for me i see too much flash, so the visual effect (for me) is a little bit flat, if you know what i mean ?!

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Shane, I think the flash hasn't helped in the fine detail & clarity around the head, it's flattened out things, likewise you just have a yellow eye with no texture or depth. I would look if they are around later this year to get them in the daylight and avoid flash wherever possible. If you have to use flash keep it off camera and to a real minimum and purely for 'fill-in' this looks quite strong and the whites have flattened out as I said earlier. The image will be better for it and likewise the subjects welfare which is first & foremost in any shot. Personally I think you could lose some off the foot so that lighter area in the LHC is eliminated, or just 'brush in' some of the darker background in that area for continuity, a quick & easy fix.

TFS
Steve

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks for the comments. I dont have an external flash so had to make to with the inbuilt one unfortunately and at 1am it was the only available light.

Will see if i find them out on a suitable perch. Only got them on my TV antenna in the afternoon this year

[Steve Kaluski]

Patience will pay off I'm sure Shane, however if they do appear then if budget allows, get an external flash.

Good luck.