The Dancer

[Loi Nguyen]

Burrowing Owls are very meticulous about preening. Parents teach chicks how to preen at an early age. This is an image of an owlet preening in golden light. The apparent "moon" was actually a light source from a distant power plant.

Canon !DX2
500f4 II + 2X III @ 1000mm
1/500
F9
ISO-1600
Gitzo Tripot
Wimberley V2 head

Hope you like it.

Thank you

Loi

[Bob Serling]

I like it! It's a very different pose and catches this bird's behavior very well. Nice assist on the "moon" from the power plant too. It must have been first light as it's pupil is still very large and dark. My only recommendation would be to remove the ankle jewelry.

[Isaac Grant]

Lovely colors and light and a unique pose which I like as it is not the typical owl staring you down pose. Details look great and I like your crop very much. Excellent and soft two toned background as well with a bonus moon (?).

Agree with Bob that you should clone out the band. Beautiful work.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the dilated pupil and thin iris, and the drooping wings. Neat rocky mound, and the fact the talons are visible is huge. Gradient BG is appealing and that was neat to include the "moon" in there.

[Loi Nguyen]

Thank you for the comments. Regarding the banding, I don't think it is that bad. I'd have made it worse had I attempted to clone it.

[Isaac Grant]

Just did a quick copy of your pic and cloned out the band. Did not take long and results would be much better of course with the TIFF file. This is one of those bands that comes out with very little work. You have a nice and straight leg to work off of. Sure it is personal preference but image looks much cleaner to me without the band.

[Loi Nguyen]

Thank you Isaac. The cloning looks pretty good! The image without the band certainly looks better from the artistic viewpoint. But then if I submit it to a contest, then the banding needs to stay. Loi