Burrowing Owl

[David Salem]

I found a very cool Burrowing owl spot earlier this season. The spot is open and isolated, that means secret:w3, and the BGs are colorful and distant. Not a terrific spot yet as there are only a few owls, but it should be awesome next season. The main players are this handsome adult male and his juvenile son/daughter.
We set up some perches for them and we got some nice portrait shots with both owls using the perches.
I got real fortunate with this frame as the male was on the ground looking around and I decided to prefocused and setup on the perch. As soon as he looked up at this perch, I started blazing at 12fps and nailed this beautiful frame as he was landing.
This frame has all the prerequisites of a special frame in my book!! A Great dynamic pose, direct eye contact, catch lights in both eyes(which ain't easy with owls), beautiful early morning light, sweet light angle, sharp details, especially the face, a colorful varied smooth background, a unique perch and a handsome subject!!
Not trying to brag about the capture in any way, just giving my opinion on the components that make a special image so others can hopefully learn from and get some special frames of their own!! Get out there early and get yourself lined up right, the rest will come if you are patient!!

D5---840mm---f7.1---ss1/2500th---ISO800---handheld from truck@7:45am---40% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[Isaac Grant]

This is just insanely good Dave. I agree with your assessment 100% about everything that makes this special. I also find it ironic that you all switched to Nikon because of the auto focus but this killer shot came from being prefocused :Whoa!:. That is where the skill of the photographer trumps the system. You read the moment perfectly and captured what in my book is an award winning type image. DFC all the way Dave!!! The only thing I would say is maybe the colors are a little too cool for 7:45?

[annmpacheco]

Yayyyy, always good to see your work here Dave and what a landing pose from this guy! I love the full wingspread and those talons just ready to clench the pretty perch. Lovely processing here, all looks terrific and that "down the barrel" stare is awesome. Rock it Dave!

[David Salem]

Thanks Isaac and Ann!! Glad you like it.

Isaac, I didn't really think this one looked to cool. Come to think about it, it doesn't look to warm either. Maybe like the middle bear, it is just right:bg3:. See what others think. Thanks again for your nice comment. I really appreciate it.

[David Salem]

This is a phone shot but I thought I would share this image being displayed over my fireplace in a 16x9 format. Turned out pretty cool.

Thanks again

[Dorian Anderson]

Yes, this is killer for sure! Nothing not to like!

[Tim Foltz]

Dave, nice details, wingspan, BG and eyes. It looks great on the big screen TV also.

-Tim

[arash_hazeghi]

lovely shot Dave, I wish this frame was mine. really jealous.

for folks who don't know what it takes to get a frame like this, pre-focus doesn't mean that the camera's AF doesn't have to do the critical job. the pre-focus is set on the perch but here the critical focus is on the head where it should be. Had this shot been take with Canon 1DXII, the critical AF would likely either fall on the talons or back on the tail given the unstable nature of its AF, rendering this frame a big fat delete.

Dave and I missed so many opportunities like this thanks to Canon, when there was an active colony, not any more :)

if mine I'd warm the colors a tad

Cheers and great job, wish I was there too.

[Frank Schauf]

An absolutely fantastic pose, David.

[Bill Dix]

Superb! I agree with everything you said in your assessment. A truly special frame. I would have said 'print it', but I see you have done so. Great anticipation to get the perfect moment.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image David! Great wing position, perch, IQ, BG and composition.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone!!

[David Salem]

I was going to comment this morning on the same fact that Arash already covered fairly well last night.
When I said I was prefocused on the perch, it didn't mean that I was in manual focus, it just meant that I was bumping focus on the perch and waiting for something to happen.
The Nikon autofocus system did exactly what my Canon system was never really able to do well, which is to change focus as the bird is coming in. I have literally hundreds of photos of many different birds coming into Perches only to find the perch razor sharp and the bird a couple inches behind the perch slightly out of focus. Even large birds like red tailed hawks.
The only way I was able to get shots like this was to try to back focus and lock focus and pray that I caught the bird as it was coming in. The big risk with that is if the bird comes in and does something special, or has a prey-item in this feet, I could possibly miss a nice opportunity.
If you look at this image you can see that the auto focus shifted slightly to the rear and locked on the bird as it came in. I actually have two other frames before this one that are in focus also but not as Nice looking because he is still looking down.
Thanks again

[Bill Dix]

Thanks for the helpful explanation, David. Which AF setting were you using?

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Dave, a special image indeed. About as perfect as it gets. What auto focus mode were you using... single, group, dynamic? Thank you for sharing.

[John Mack]

Killer frame. Really like the fully stretched out wings. Excellent background. You do your own framing and printing?

[David Salem]

Thanks for the helpful explanation, David. Which AF setting were you using?

Thanks Bill and Joseph!!
Glad you guys like it.
I pretty much always have my D5 and D850 set to "Group" AF. It should read AFC on the top LCD of your cameras.
Also a real important thing that I learned, and a flaw of the Nikon AF sytem, is in group focus the camera's AF has a hard time finding a simple bird on a stick in a similar BG.
To combat this I have set the AF-ON button at the rear thumb position to single point focus. Once I hit single point it finds the non contrasty small stuff much better.
Hope this helps

[David Salem]

Killer frame. Really like the fully stretched out wings. Excellent background. You do your own framing and printing?

Thanks John!!

No, I don't actually print my own stuff but I do print a lot of images.
I am a distributor for a printing company that dose beautiful work so if you ever need help with a print, let me know.
Thanks again

[gail bisson]

When you first showed me this I knew it was killer good! Seeing it big and large confirms my initial impression! Love it and looks good as is but would love to see a repost with image slightly warmer!
:cheers:

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks Bill and Joseph!!
Glad you guys like it.
I pretty much always have my D5 and D850 set to "Group" AF. It should read AFC on the top LCD of your cameras.
Also a real important thing that I learned, and a flaw of the Nikon AF sytem, is in group focus the camera's AF has a hard time finding a simple bird on a stick in a similar BG.
To combat this I have set the AF-ON button at the rear thumb position to single point focus. Once I hit single point it finds the non contrasty small stuff much better.
Hope this helps

Thanks for responding, Dave. I wondered because Group AF focuses on whatever is closest to the camera. I also have the AL ON button set for single point autofocus. Thanks again Dave.

[Alex Becker]

Really nice. Everyone has pretty much covered it -- great pose eye contact perch and BG. Details are sweet. TFS

[Arthur Morris]

Yo Momma. You suck! Please confirm that AF was indeed active at the moment of exposure. (Sorry if I missed that above; too much to read :S3: )

Did you set up the perch?

with love, arite

[David Salem]

Hi Artie,

Yes, auto focus was active and I mentioned that it was even able to shift back from the perch as the bird flew in.
Yes, When we 1st found the spot Glenn and I went out and found some nice cactus perches to put on some PVC pipes they were sitting on.
Thanks

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks David. That is what I figgered ...

with love, arite

[Mike Poole]

Top notch work David - but you already know that! Waaaay to many good points to list!

Mike

[William Dickson]

Wow, just opened this on the 5K...Probably about as perfect as it gets...Excellent David

Will

[Juan Tolentino]

Probably nothing else to add, I just have to say: Wow!!!!


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[Robert Kimbrell]

That's insane David. Sorry I am late to reply. You nailed everything on this top shelf image. I love the critical focus on the face/eyes. Congrats.

[Walker Noe]

This is absolutely stunning. Wow.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Ohh my ...

What a stunning shot. Thank you for all the info provided. Print looks stunning as well.

TFS