Great Gray Owl

[Jon Groves]

I managed to get this roadside great gray last week while it was lightly snowing in the evening. With a gray owl in aspen trees the branches usually end up cluttering up the image but from this angle I at least managed to get a clearer angle without branches obscuring the owl's face. Are the branches too much?

7DII | 500mm | F4.0 | 1/400 | ISO1600

[John Robinson]

No - I think they are fine. Just the kind of image I prefer to plain BG's
Beautiful
JohnR

[Bill Dix]

I personally think the branches make a lovely pattern, and a nice counterpoint to the owl. They don't intrude seriously onto the bird (although the twig closest to the facial disk could be evicted if you were so inclined). It might also be possible to crop up from the bottom to remove the lowest horizontal branch and twigs, but it's not really necessary since it's part of the overall pattern. I'd be thrilled to have this one.

[Marina Scarr]

The branches work well here b/c they aren't obstructing the owl's disc/face and I really like the pattern and the color palette. I do feel your owl needs more sharpening.

[Michael Thompson]

Very nice! I do a lot of Owl pics, and usually hate "sticky" backgrounds, but they work well in this one with the really pale branches making the owl stand out more instead of blending in like usual. I would also crop off the bottom branch and twigs ~ MT