Early Morning Northern Hawk Owl.

[Daniel Cadieux]

It had been a number of years since I'd last photograph a Northern Hawk Owl, so it was a joy to finally catch up to this individual as it soaked up the rays on a cold March morning. I was first on the scene, and this beauty was already on tis perch, only 12 feet off the ground. Cool!

Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/250s., f/5.6, ISO 1600, natural light, handheld, FF.

[Bill Dix]

How nice to have this guy pose at a relatively low level. And to give you such a good stare. Lovely light, nice comp. Maybe some day I'll see one of them.

[Isaac Grant]

Beautiful early morning light. I love the crazy eyes its giving you. I would do a touch more sharpening on the face just to make it really pop.

[Arthur Morris]

Neat-o. I love the fluffed feathers. And the light. The eyes look so tiny. I am guessing that the perch is angled away a bit and the bird is also angled away as it looks as if it were a lot higher up than 12 feet ...

with love, artie

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks guys, and Artie, yes you guessed correctly:c3:.

[Alex Becker]

Love the light here and a really nice BG as well. The perch is great as well. I would love to see one of these one day. No nits from me. TFS

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks guys, and Artie, yes you guessed correctly:c3:.

Deduced not guessed :) This ain't my first rodeo :wave:

with love, artie

[Glenn Pure]

Very nice work Daniel. I love everything about this one including the light, beautiful background including the OOF branches and, of course, that beautiful bird very deftly rendered to bring out the detail and nice tonal range. Nice use of position and perch to get what looks close to an eye-level view also. It's not just luck, I'm sure.

[Jim Wetherall]

Good one Daniel. This ticks all the boxes: light, composition, sharp focus where you want it, all good!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dan, love the eye contact, and good DOF on the Owl. I like the puffed up feathers, and am always amazed how they can turn their heads 180 deg without any effort. The BG compliments the Owl nicely.

[William Dickson]

Very nice indeed. I really like the facial expression. It draws the eye immediately. I like how the perch, bird and BG are similar colours. All 'fits' well together.

Will

[Stuart Edwards]

Fantastic shot Dan. Wish I had shown up 30 min earlier to see it in that golden light.